A 12-year-old train enthusiast has become the youngest person to adopt one of Northern’s Merseyside stations.

Keiran Glover is volunteering at St Helens Junction after contacting Northern’s community team when he read about station adoption on the train operator’s website. Growing up a stone's throw from the station has meant has developed a passion for trains and can even identify them by sound. Keiran has grand plans to improve the station by putting up artwork, litter picking and planting biodiverse flowers to encourage wildlife.

Keiran said: "I already have lots of ideas that will help the station look better that I can’t wait to see them come to life. I have a couple of friends that are going to help too.”

Mum Lauryn Glover said: "Keiran is really looking forward to getting cracking and making St Helens Junction a great place for people to catch the train.

“At the moment we will be litter picking at the station and then when spring comes, we plan to start planting.”

Hundreds of adopters are already active across the network, working in partnership with Northern to keep stations tidy and well presented.

Craig Harrop, regional director at Northern said: “We are so pleased to have Keiran on board and that someone so young is interested in being a station adopter. I can’t wait to see the transformation of St Helen’s Junction.” “Our community partners are the heartbeat of the railway, and we are extremely proud to work closely with them to deliver such a wide-ranging positive impact for the North of England.”

As well as receiving funding from Northern, Keiran has set up an Amazon Wishlist that the community can purchase items from to support his plans: amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1GWK0ODG4A4SQ On Sunday, December 10, rail timetables across the North of England will change in line with the rest of the National Rail network. Customers are encouraged to use the ‘Check My Timetable’ feature on the Northern website for more information about their local station.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.