NARROW GAUGE LINES BACK IN ACTION AFTER LOCKDOWN
Railways in England, Wales and Isle of Man return to steam as lockdown restrictions eased.
Despite previous concerns over their ability to abide by social distancing regulations, Britain’s narrow gauge railways have been among the first to return to action following the easing of lockdown restrictions.
One of the first out the traps, perhaps surprisingly given its 15in gauge, was the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, on July 4. Services initially ran on the southern section between New Romney and Dungeness, but were later expanded over the entirety of the 13½-mile route to Dymchurch and Hythe from July 18.
RHDR retail manager Jade Ashton said: “Nearly every train has been sold out but, of course, that’s at our new reduced capacity. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support; we all had a few emotional tears on the first day of running and reading the feedback people have taken the time to leave on TripAdvisor and the like. It’s shown a real level of confidence in us that is so well deserved for the teams that have worked hard to put all of the measures in place.”
Although the RHDR mostly uses nominally open carriage stock, clear screens have been placed between individual ‘compartments’ to enable social distancing. Compartments are cleaned between each return journey, and there are hand sanitising stations around the railway.
While other lines in the principality have, at the time of writing, yet to resume regular services, the Bala Lake Railway became the first Welsh heritage line to reopen on July 9.
General manager David Jones said: “We wanted to have a ‘soft’ opening ahead of the summer holidays beginning in the next couple of weeks. We are in such uncharted territory; it is important not only to exercise safe practice but also to ensure everyone feels confident with the new safety measures, and this is a good time to test out new procedures. We are very grateful to the Welsh government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for its life-saving support [see separate story].”
Another regional reopening pioneer was the Groudle Glen Railway which, on July 5, became the first railway on the Isle of Man to resume passenger services, following the abolition of social distancing after it had been officially free of Covid-19 for over 50 days.
GGR spokesman Alex Brindley said: “We are extremely grateful that the island is in such a fortunate position that we can reopen, as charity funds were at a critical point.
“While we are open to islanders only (as our borders are still currently closed prohibiting holidaymakers) we have received a fantastic level of support so far from Isle of Man families wanting family entertainment at a time when the main government railways are not operating and there are no holiday options. We have also been fortunate to have received support from the Alan Chinnery Trust and also the Scheinberg family, which has been crucial in allowing the line to continue during these difficult times.
“It was a challenge during the island’s strict lockdown when volunteers weren’t allowed to visit the line, so once restrictions were relaxed, we had a lot of maintenance work to complete ahead of being able to reopen, but thankfully an extra effort was made by everyone to ensure the tea rooms were fully repainted, a large track re-lay was completed and the railway as a whole was ready to run.”
At the time of going to press, the GGR and the Great Laxey Mine Railway were the only Manx railways running, and there was no indication as to when the government-run lines, including the Douglas-Port Erin steam railway, would reopen.
Like the Middleton Railway (see separate story), the Bure Valley Railway also celebrated an important milestone behind closed doors – its 30th anniversary. In common with other railway events across the country, the 15in gauge Norfolk line had to cancel its planned ‘Step Back in Time’ event which, had it gone ahead, would have featured the RHDR’s 4-8-2 No. 5 Samson and ‘Pacific’ No. 9 Winston Churchill, which hauled the BVR’s inaugural trains on July 10 1990 (SR501).
Instead, to mark the occasion, two special test trains – doubleheaded by BVR No. 6 Blickling Hall and recently overhauled No. 8 John of Gaunt – were run from Aylsham to Wroxham and back in advance of the line’s reopening to the public on July 11. It was the first time Nos. 6 and 8 had double-headed a train in the BVR’s history. Like its Kentbased 15in gauge counterpart, the
BVR has also installed screens between compartments; two out of three sets of coaches will be in use at any one time, while the third will be cleaned using a biological fogging machine.
BVR managing director Andrew Barnes added: “We are looking at all trains arriving at one platform and departing from another, thus we avoid two train loads of passengers competing for space on a single platform.”
Other narrow gauge lines which were among the first heritage railways in Britain to reopen included the Cleethorpes Coast, Eastleigh Lakeside, Evesham Vale, Kirklees and Perrygrove railways.