A BIG fan of a railway attraction at St Newlyn East travelled across Europe to celebrate his 10th birthday with one of its trains.

Kaiden Duke visited Lappa Valley to attend the festivities staged to mark the 10th birthday of its locomotive ‘The Duke’ during the weekend of October 19 and 20.

The youngster was invited to be the guest of honour as visitors joined with Lappa Valley's owner Keith Southwell to sing ‘happy birthday’ to both Dukes.

Kaiden and his family first visited Lappa Valley in September, and since then he has been asking to spend his tenth birthday at the attraction.

The family, who are currently relocating from Spain to Lanlivery even returned to the UK a week early for the visit.

Amy, Kaiden’s mother said: "We're moving back to Cornwall, and we gave him the option of either spending his birthday in Spain or coming back here — he chose Lappa Valley.

“I spotted The Duke shared his birthday weekend, and it was arranged for Kaiden to be a part of the celebrations.

"I went onto the website and I saw that it was The Duke's 10th birthday too so I thought, wow, it's fate, isn't it?"

Keith said: "Two Dukes with their tenth birthdays at the same time is such an incredible coincidence - and a great excuse for a double celebration.

"It was a pleasure to meet Kaiden and meet the whole Duke family. Thank you for being a part of our weekend of celebrations, and thank you to everyone who joined us."

The Duke locomotive was originally built for the now closed Wells Harbour railway. It joined Lappa Valley in 2021, where it now transports tens of thousands of passengers along the Newlyn Downs Branchline every year.

Kaiden added: "It's pretty good having all those people singing to you, but it's confusing having the same name as a train."

Lappa Valley is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. The rail attraction was opened by Eric Booth in June 1974 along part of the closed GWR Newquay to Chacewater Branchline, in the old boggy mine workings of East Wheal Rose Mine.