Good steam news spreads
Clear skies and a gentle breeze across the footplate … 160psi on the clock as we make ready to depart … and smiles – smiles everywhere.
And this was just the pre-opening familiarisation day!
I’ve fired three or four times at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway since that day in early July and every time it reminds me why we do this. When I’m stuck in the office I find the heat stifling. Up there on the footplate it just doesn’t seem to matter. How lucky am I to be part of a well-oiled team bringing smiles to people’s faces – families, children, enthusiasts – all loving the experience of a steam train journey through the sun-soaked countryside.
With most preserved railways across the UK back in action, the experience is being repeated. In many cases operations are different, with a range of precautions in place to counter the potential impacts of Covid-19, but we’re well and truly back.
And as railways have reopened, you can’t help but realise the special fondness so many people have for steam railways – perhaps more than we sometimes acknowledge. Visitors appreciate that things are different and, alongside the praise and thanks flooding review sites and social media postings, there’s a clear recognition of the challenges railways have and continue to face, and the extra effort that personnel are putting in to give everyone a fantastic day out.
The media have noticed this too. Here at the HRA I’ve received a variety of requests from broadcast and print media for comment on the re-emergence of our sector and it’s clear that railways large and small have captured the interest of journalists and programme editors across all media.
And railways have worked hard to maximise the coverage and gain that much-needed advertising and PR … From colour pictures in The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The
Guardian, and a double-page spread in The Sunday Express, to features on breakfast television, BBC and ITV regional news programmes, plus many reports on local radio and upbeat news stories in local press and online. We’re everywhere!
It’s a very positive picture, and now you’re probably expecting the ‘but’ (because there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there!). Yes, I could write all sorts of stuff about the challenges ahead and that we’re by no means out of the woods yet. That’s for next time.
For now, the sun’s shining, railways are back in steam, holidaymakers and locals are finding genuine delight in the heritage experiences on offer, and those cheering smiles. After four difficult, testing and often depressing months, let’s take a moment to bask in our successes.
Employed and volunteer personnel successfully responding to entirely new challenges; boards and managers developing new thinking and exploring imaginative new ways to get the wheels turning again; supporters and enthusiasts providing more than £6million in donations to keep our sector alive; and, yes, the MPs, ministers, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport officials, media, funding bodies and others who recognise the importance of our sector as part of the nation’s culture and visitor economy.
A couple of months ago I urged that if we make this a team effort there’s room for optimism… This is a team effort.
Thank you.