IT IS always exciting when a family member is in the paper, but Barbara Couling got a double shock when reading this very page.

When Barbara read Swindon Mayor Steve Wakefield's Remember When on June 25, she noticed a family connection to both photographs on the page.

She noticed that her husband was in one photo and her son in the other.

Barbara told the Adver about her amazing discovery.

"On looking at the photographs I found to my delight that one of the painters in the larger picture was my husband Tony Couling, who worked for Swindon Works until it closed in 1986.

"On closer look at the second photograph I see that that the driver is my son Kevin Couling, who is one of the drivers for the Vale of Rhiedol.

"What a coincidence."

Mrs Couling, who lives in Aberystyth in Wales was sent a copy of the Adver with the pictures in by a friend who knew her husband Terry used to work at the Swindon Works.

Mrs Couling said the picture of her son was taken some time last year in between his university studies.

The pictures, published in the Adver, were sent to Coun Wakefield by Councillor David Renard after a visit to the Vale of Rheidol (VoR) Railway.

"I found them intriguing as they pictured the locos not as I remembered them, when I last visited this railway in August 1982," said Coun Wakefield.

"Two locos 1212 and 1213 were taken to Swindon for a major overhaul. The 1212 was modified and refurbished, but it is said that 1213 was a complete rebuild from scratch.

"Then the locos were painted British Railways Blue with very large going nowhere arrows as the BR logo was sometimes referred to on their sides.

"There is an interesting story behind these locomotives that escaped the graveyard, either one of mystery or deceit depending on your point of view.

"The VoR was built at the turn of the 20th century, to carry lead ore from mines to Aberystwyth, and timber from the Rheidol forest to the mainline railway.

"In 1923 the GWR absorbed the railway and this is where the story begins.

"Swindon Works built two more locos for the VoR numbers seven and eight.

Strangely the design and parts are identical to 1213, which a little later was given the number nine.

"The GWR, not wanting to identify it as a new loco, ordered that all the parts required for 1213 were classified as spares.

"The list is so comprehensive that some argue it is a complete loco. Despite this, some historians are convinced it is a rebuild and argue their point."