Philip Haigh
PHILIP HAIGH looks at the plight facing heritage railways in the face of COVID-19, and the problems they must overcome to remain operational
Heritage railways have bills to pay.
TRAINS leaving Keighley face tracks curving right before they swing left past the Globe Inn, all the while battling gradients as steep as 1-in-58.
Those gradients are a defining feature of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. On the weekend of June 26-28, the KWVR should have played host to diesel locomotives being put to the test, in place of the preserved railway’s usual roster of steam. Its diesel galas are popular events and I’ve enjoyed several over the years, both as a visitor and a volunteer.
But not this year. The branch line is quiet. No carriage doors slam and no whistles blow. No trains run - and none have since COVID-19 struck. Instead its tracks quietly rust, just as they do at preserved lines all over the country.
Not for them the support that government has poured into the franchise operators it oversees. Preserved lines can furlough staff with government help, but they still have bills to pay even when trains don’t run and there’s no revenue from tickets.
The Heritage Railway Association (HRA) reckons that preservation covers 560 miles of track with 460 stations, 1,000 diesel locomotives and 2,000 carriages (and 800 steam locomotives). Preserved railways bring in 13 million visitors a year, employ 4,000 people, and benefit from 22,000 volunteers. The HRA reckons the sector brings £400 million to the UK economy every year.
Its major players are sizeable businesses. The Severn Valley Railway earns £8m a year, with around half coming from ticket sales and a quarter from catering and bar sales. With 88 full-time staff (and another 100 part-time and casual staff), its wage bill reaches nearly £3m a year.
Its annual report for 2018 noted: “The SVR is a wonderful institution but even with monumental volunteer contribution is still a very costly venture to maintain and keep alive.”
The Government’s furlough scheme has helped pay the wage bill, but others remain - including a proportion of its annual locomotive restoration and maintenance spending of over £1m. Then there’s the £372,000 loan for its impressive diesel depot that needs to be paid down every year. Plenty of bills for a line with little current income!
Yet COVID-19 was not 2020’s first crisis for the SVR. Its home is Bridgnorth, which was one of the towns affected by flooding back in February. This came on top of its planned reduction in services to just the line between Bridgnorth and Bewdley. Repair work to Falling Sands Viaduct severed the line through to Kidderminster, where passengers would normally change to and from main line services to Birmingham.
The KWVR’s line is also cut by bridge work. It was midway through replacing Bridge 11 over the River Worth, near Ingrow.
Cranes lifted the metal girders of the 115-year-old bridge and dropped new concrete beams into place in March. Then COVID-19 closed down construction projects and work stopped. It has only just restarted, so Keighley (with its Northern services to and from Leeds) remains isolated from the rest of the railway.
And so it, and other railways, fell back on public appeals for money. KWVR launched a drive to raise £200,000, while the SVR’s ‘Fight
Back Fund’ raised £745,000.
SVR Chairman Nick Paul said: “We are planning for the railway’s reopening, but this won’t happen until August at the earliest. We hope to recoup some of the income for this year, but because of social distancing we won’t be able to operate our services to normal capacity.
“What has become clear is that we face a longer-term and more serious threat than we could have envisaged. The huge loss of income to the SVR while it remains closed during our peak running season means we won’t be able to make our crucial annual investment into the
railway. This amounts to £4.5m and would fund essential restorations to our infrastructure and rolling stock, along with apprentice training and a desperately needed overhaul of our IT infrastructure, which is creaking at the seams.”
August is the Worth Valley’s target date, too. Operations Manager Noel Hartley explains: “Our approach is going to be based around temporarily changing our service from what is a branch line stopping service, with flexibility of boarding and alighting, to a round trip, there and back-only service. This model gives us control over the visitor flow at the railway and enables us to focus our attention on the visitor facilities at just two of our six stations.
“We plan to use our compartment stock in order to fit in with social distancing, however that evolves over the coming months. In terms of motive power, initially we will focus on providing what is needed for that level of service. We are planning some specialist cleaning for public areas, including our carriages and station facilities.”
Keighley might be severed from the rest of the Worth Valley, but it’s not short of trains. Northern is storing most of its Class 144 fleet in the KWVR’s two platform roads, which has given the KWVR some income during its enforced shutdown. As Hartley notes: “We’re not sure how long they will be with us, but as long as they’re at Keighley they are contributing to our funds!”
Over at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, fundraising was in full swing before the virus struck. It too has bridge renewals in prospect, and it’s building a new four-road carriage shed at Pickering. This is part of its five-year, almost £10m ‘Yorkshire’s Magnificent Railway’ project, which has received over £4m from the lottery’s heritage fund. Supporters have given £2m so far and the railway aims to raise another £1m from them.
Most preserved railways work in this way. They launch appeals to pay for big ticket items that revenue from visitors will never cover. The money might go towards an extension that promises a longer railway and a new station.
One example is the Great Central Railway’s reunification fund that aims to take the railway north from Loughborough over the Midland Main Line to join its northern neighbour.
The MML bridge is back in place and the GCR is now looking for £3m to reinstate approach bridges. It’s a hefty sum, but one that promises a very different railway. That sort of vision can fire the imagination of railway supporters much more than appealing for money simply to stay afloat.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was set for a good season on the back of Channel 5’s television series Yorkshire’s Steam Railway, which aired earlier this year.
The Severn Valley Railway team was looking forward to celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking the return of trains between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade.
The Worth Valley is still planning a 50th anniversary event - this time the release of that classic film The Railway Children, starring Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins and former KWVR Chairman Graham ‘Thank You, Mr Perks!’ Mitchell as the guard. It’s still in the diary for August 29-31 and I hope it takes place.
The locomotive depots of Haworth, Bridgnorth, Loughborough and Grosmont will return to life. As will the many others around the country that I’ve not mentioned. But they and the others will need our help.
I won’t be holidaying abroad this summer. I hope to visit a few preserved railways instead, buying a ticket, taking a ride and perhaps having lunch in one of their buffet bars or cafes.
“The branch line is quiet. No carriage doors slam and no whistles blow. No trains run - and none have since COVID-19 struck.”