A SOLDIER from the North-East has helped put a defunct railway line back on the tracks after 53 years.
Sapper Paul Beattie, 30, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, joined the Royal Engineers five years ago after studying mechanical engineering at the University of Teesside and Kingston University.
Now he is delighted to be involved in a project to restore the Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway in County Antrim, Ireland.
The line opened in 1883 and was the world's first commercial hydro electric tramway. It was closed in September 1949 and never reopened.
But the Royal Engineers are on an operational tour of Northern Ireland and got involved in the project. Spr Beattie was involved with the construction of a timber passenger platform at Bushmills.
Work began on January 21 and the two-mile stretch was opened last month. It is the only narrow gauge steam railway in Northern Ireland.
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