PETER JOHNSON’S 300th ISSUE
STEAM RAILWAY says ‘thank you’ to the man who has been the face of the magazine’s narrow gauge coverage for the past 25 years:
Marking the milestone of SR’s stalwart narrow gauge correspondent
Iam still gripped by it.”
Those are the words of Peter Johnson, a man whose enthusiasm for narrow gauge steam – and the articles that it inspires – is unabashed, even after SR482 marked 300 consecutive issues of penning the same news fixture. It is a record for any journalist on Steam Railway. Others have written for a similar number of editions in the magazine’s four-decade history – but none compare to PJ’s run of Narrow Gauge News submissions, which haven’t missed a beat since he was first recruited by former editor Nigel Harris in 1995. That followed a successful stint supplying news items to Railway World under Michael Harris’ watch.
The preservation world looked quite different 25 years ago. Indeed, the question of which particular story stands out in that time brings the instant and unequivocal response: “the Welsh Highland”.
Peter admits that he was sceptical about the ambitious 25-mile restoration project in the early 1990s. It’s easy to see why – it was mired in bitter in-fighting and widespread dispute that would have scuppered other projects; let alone one that would require not just careful management, but the thick end of £50 million to realise.
“Mel Holley [who took over the editorship in 1999] said to me: ‘Nobody else is taking an interest in this, so we might as well’.” Lingering doubts in the scheme were eliminated, and culminated in Peter’s most treasured exclusive of the past quarter-century: an £11 million government grant that was key to unlocking the spectacular route between Rhyd Ddu and Porthmadog in 2004.
It was a story that had come full circle for the man who was once involved in producing Ffestiniog Railway Magazine in 1975 and who, 29 years later, was witnessing the same railway take the ultimate stride towards creating another.
But not everyone was convinced…
“Former editor Peter Kelly told me that he’d received complaints from readers who said that there was too much narrow gauge in Steam Railway. That doesn’t happen any more – the subject has become much more important in the time that I’ve been doing it.” That is borne out by some remarkable achievements that range from extensions through repatriations and restorations to new-builds – and not just in North Wales. “Two of the ones to watch,” says Peter, looking to the future, “are the Lynton & Barnstaple and the Vale of Rheidol.
“The L&B shows that it’s important to have plans in place, even if they’re not going to happen overnight, while the Rheidol is set to become an examplar of how to run a railway… Its passenger figures have doubled, to 60,000, in just five years.
“An emerging star is the Bala Lake Railway. Julian Birley just beavers away in the background. He will get the railway into Bala.” The allure of trains that run on rails spiked closer together than the classic 4ft 8½in is defined in Peter’s mind chiefly by the fact that much of what preservation has to offer in this field are “complete in comparison to much of the standard gauge, which is part of a much bigger network.”
It’s a view that he has suspected might not always be shared by the people to whom he sends his copy every four weeks. “Every time the magazine appoints a new editor I half-expect a phone call to say ‘I don’t want to have narrow gauge news any more’. Fortunately that has never happened.”
And if you’d think that Peter might be about to start dabbing the brakes, his diary would suggest otherwise.
A visit to the Fairbourne Railway on August 4 was scheduled to be followed by trips to the North Gloucestershire, Richmond Light, Welshpool & Llanfair, Statfold Barn, Welsh Highland, Alan Keef’s works, the Lynton & Barnstaple and Ffestiniog railways… and all before the end of September!
Currently, Peter is also writing text for books on Corris, the Welsh Highland, Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool & Llanfair railways to add to the 40-odd titles carrying his name that already reside on his bookshelves.
Proof, if it were ever needed, that the flame of Peter’s abiding passion still burns brightly.