Emma is first female Severn Valley Railway apprentice
It's full steam ahead for a teenage girl who has become the first female apprentice to be taken on by Severn Valley Railway.
Emma Harrison, aged 17, is one of five new recruits to the railway's Heritage Skills Training Academy.
Emma said it has fulfilled a lifetime ambition for her due to her love of heritage and steam railways.
"It was normal that a family holiday would include at least one trip on a railway and it's still true today that we always manage to find a railway to go on, even when abroad," said the Wolverhampton teenager.
"A great saying in our family is 'a holiday is never a holiday without a railway in it'."
Emma said she was continuing a family legacy as her grandfather, who she said inspired her love for heritage engineering, was a member of the Gloucester and Worcester Railway, as well as a supporter of the Severn Valley Railway, along with her grandmother.
It was through her grandmother that Emma found out about the academy after she received a leaflet and passed it on to Emma.
She said: "I decided to apply and see where it took me. I was extremely happy and overjoyed to get the place and as soon as I got off the phone I was straight back on the phone to my mum, dad, gran and my granddad, who was so proud of me."
Also joining Emma on the HSTA this year are Alan Brookes, aged 19, from Stourbridge, Tom Hubble, 20, from Birmingham, and Dean Parkin, 17, and Ryan Parsons, 20, who have moved all the way from Launceston in Cornwall and Wimborne in Dorset respectively.
