Prince Charles has been hailed as a "very good" train driver.
The 68-year-old royal got the chance to drive an old steam train which he’d travelled on "as a child" when he visited the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society at Milton of Crathes, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, on Monday (24.04.17).
Charles was praised for his driving ability during the short trip on the reconstructed historic railway line towards Banchory and back.
Volunteer driver Jamie West told the Daily Express newspaper: "I never thought I’d teach the future King to drive a steam train. He’s driven similar trains before, so kind of understood how they work.
"We chatted on the way down the line about how he’d travelled on the line as a child and he never believed he would travel on it again.
"He took the controls and did all the driving. I did the braking as we approached the platform. His driving was very good."
The 1965 train was left badly damaged in 2015 after vandals smashed the double-glazed windows to the Mark 2 coach and ruined a nearby locomotive engine, amounting in £10,000 worth of destruction.
However, hope was not lost for the volunteers as Prince Charles, through The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, made a "significant" donation toward the appeal fund to repair the carriage and the engine.
His donation is helping fund the ongoing £15,000 refurbishment project to the rolling stock on the historic line, which was used by the Royal Family on trips to the Balmoral estate between 1853 and 1966.
Charles’ donation meant an immediate start could be made to clear up, repair, and restore the damage done to the coach.
During his visit to the site, Prince Charles met with some of the volunteers who were tasked with repairing and resorting the damaged stock, and unveiled a plaque to commemorate his visit.
Prince Charles is a ‘very good’ train driver
