IT’S BEEN a gruelling year for most across the region due to the tribulations brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group worse hit than volunteers at Blaenavon Heritage Railway. There’s more than 80 of them, and the vast majority have had to stay away from what they love doing every weekend – teaching visitors about the history of the area via coal-powered steam engines. Finally, after a bleak year in which they’ve lost £100,000 in ticket sales alone, volunteers are back in business this week, preparing for what they hope is going to be a bumper bank holiday return on Saturday.