Choo-choo cheer on platform 6
Regular commuters have become firm friends thanks to their trips on Shropshire's 'Happy Train'Riding the railway through the Shropshire countryside, it used to be homemade stickers bearing smiley faces and the words "I'm in the Happy Train Fan Club" that members of an exclusive commuter group wore proudly on their chests to show their enthusiasm. But these days the form of ID is more formal. Says regular passenger Jennie Cranage: "Mick the conductor, who started the 'Happy Train' and makes the stickers, went out and bought a proper badgemaker from Toys R Us." It's 5.35pm and gaiety is in the air on Platform 6 of Shrewsbury railway station as the train pulls in. Passengers love this loco so much they have dubbed it the Happy Train. Even the anthropomorphic 'face' on the front of the London Midland loco that will whisk them home at the end of a hard day at the office appears to be wearing a grin. As passengers take their seats, over the Tannoy system inside the train comes a familiar voice. It's train conductor and badge-maker extraordinaire Mick Paul, who announces: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the 17.35pm Happy Train from Shrewsbury to Birmingham . . . H-A-P-P-Y." Read the full story in the Shropshire Star

Riding the railway through the Shropshire countryside, it used to be homemade stickers bearing smiley faces and the words "I'm in the Happy Train Fan Club" that members of an exclusive commuter group wore proudly on their chests to show their enthusiasm.
But these days the form of ID is more formal.
Says regular passenger Jennie Cranage: "Mick the conductor, who started the 'Happy Train' and makes the stickers, went out and bought a proper badgemaker from Toys R Us."
It's 5.35pm and gaiety is in the air on Platform 6 of Shrewsbury railway station as the train pulls in. Passengers love this loco so much they have dubbed it the Happy Train. Even the anthropomorphic 'face' on the front of the London Midland loco that will whisk them home at the end of a hard day at the office appears to be wearing a grin.
As passengers take their seats, over the Tannoy system inside the train comes a familiar voice.
It's train conductor and badge-maker extraordinaire Mick Paul, who announces: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the 17.35pm Happy Train from Shrewsbury to Birmingham . . . H-A-P-P-Y."Mick's words are appropriate - passengers get invited to each others weddings, have on-board cake parties on birthdays, buy each other Christmas cards and even go out socially, all as a result of meeting on board and becoming friends.
The hardcore regulars on the Happy Train pile into the rear carriage, like enthusiastic school kids who bag the back seats on a coach trip.
Happy Train group member Jennie Cranage, from Cosford, says: "It's quite a big group now and we're all very friendly.
"We all met on the train. Mick would sit and talk to us after making his announcements. He does his ticket round and then he comes and sits with us until the next station.
"He knows everything about us! He's even got our mobile numbers and if the train's late he calls to tell us."
Hena Akbar, who commutes to work in Shrewsbury from Birmingham, is a relatively new member of the Happy Train fan club and says it was conductor Mick who brought her into the back compartment and introduced her to the group.
Other passengers on the carriage chip into the banter, and the feeling of merriment is present in the voice of one middle-aged commuter who calls his wife to tell her he'll be home in 10 minutes and that he loves her.
Relaxed and contented is the watchword here: commuters are seen putting away their laptops for the day and doing highly unusual things on the train - like talking to one another.
As they continue their journeys, passengers on the 17.35 even share out joke sheets. So cheery is the feeling on board that some passengers who used to catch an earlier, more convenient service, instead wait around on the platform to ride the Happy Train.
What makes this service more remarkable is that, often justifiably, many of today's rail commuters seem unfamiliar with the concept of smiling and heaping praise on their daily ride on the choo-choos. These days they're as likely to be found blowing off steam about lower standards, higher fares and trains that fail to materialise altogether.
Honorary group member Liz Young, who works at the Shropshire Archive in Shrewsbury, notices the difference in mood on other, longer commuter trips where passengers often keep themselves to themselves and rarely strike up a conversation.
She believes the reason why passengers are so chirpy on this service must be something to do with the nature of the journey - going-home time with beautiful scenery to look at - and the fact the train stops at all the village and small-town stations along the route.
"I've been been coming on the train for donkeys' years and there used to be a similar group," she says. "They didn't call it the Happy Train but they were all very friendly - I was invited to a wedding and to Christmas dos by them, and once we went for a meal."
Happy Train regulars unanimously hail conductor Mick Paul as the man who injects happiness into an otherwise ordinary journey.
Mick himself says of his unusual Tannoy announcements: "It's not textbook but I'm not a law unto myself. It started off about two years ago as a bit of fun and excitement and if I can make it enjoyable for passengers then that's great.
"We are very close."
They are indeed. It's not every day that you get invited to a wedding while working on the train, but that's what happened to Mick and two other passengers who, until they met on the train, were complete strangers.
"There are three of us who have been invited to the wedding - two passengers and myself. Isn't that absolutely fantastic?
"We were all really choked, to the extend that it brought tears to the eyes of one of the other guys who travels on the train."
Sixty-or-so minutes of unadulterated joy later and the journey ends. All these people whose lives converge on a single train go on their separate ways, happier for having ridden the Happy Train.
Same time tomorrow?