The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
His stint as train driver
“We teach people to drive steam trains quite a lot here when people come along and pay to have a go doing it, so we’re quite used to teaching, but it’s just not normally that kind of person you’re teaching.
“He’s very knowledgeable about steam trains so he knew what he was looking at and we had quite a good chat with him. He was also talking about how he recalls travelling on the line as a child and never thought he would come back and drive a train on it.”
Meanwhile, the society has said the future king was instrumental in helping to salvage the coach and engine.
Martin Knowles, who volunteers with the group, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant to have him here because it gives us a lot of publicity and brings more people here and helps tourism in the area.
“He spent quite a lot of time asking us questions, asking the details about the station, and how we got it over here.
“He’s obviously up here quite a bit and you don’t always see him, but he obviously keeps an eye on what’s going on as he was very quick to offer support.
“It’s very unfortunate what happened.
“There were lots of windows broken and to try and repair them in a coach that’s more than 50 years old, when everything is corroded, was really difficult. But the support we’ve had from people has been tremendous, from all parts of the community, to try and get it back up and running again.”
The next step for the society is to extend the track, which finishes at West Lodge, all the way back to Banchory. The locomotive, station and line is open every weekend until the end of the year.