THE JOY OF STEAM

Britain’s heritage railways finally are reopening – proof, if any were needed, that the country is determined to get back on track, says a lifelong train enthusiast

IT WAS watching the classic movie The Railway Children as a youngster that fired my lifelong love affair with historic trains. The 1970 film reaches its tear-jerking climax when Jenny Agutter’s character, Bobbie, runs along the platform for an emotional reunion with her father as he emerges through the billowing steam left by an elegant, puffing loco.

It must have helped that at about the same time my own dad – still nutty about the kind of steam engines he used to spot in his youth – took me for a visit to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, set in countryside as idyllic as its name suggests.

I thrilled to the roars and whistles as a fiery monster of a machine thundered along the track carrying us in plush, liveried carriages.

When my own son was old enough we all returned – he and his grandpa gleefully clutching hands in our compartment as the train hurtled through a tunnel.

Across Britain, there are millions of enthusiasts like us who adore the nation’s heritage railways where steam trains of yesteryear are kept alive in all their shiny glory.

But this year the coronavirus lockdown has robbed us of our retro indulgence, with preserved lines across the country forced to shut, just as their summer seasons were about to get under way.

Indeed, without passenger income many have faced the end of the line, launching emergency appeals for cash. After all, restoring and running steam engines doesn’t come cheap.

So it is encouraging news that, as restrictions ease, the Bluebell Railway – the world’s first standard-gauge heritage railway – is now set to reopen on August 7, exactly 60 years since it was launched by a group of pioneering volunteers in Sussex.

Many others, which have been struggling too, are also set to fire up once more as they battle to keep this quintessentially British passion going.

THE Bluebell, which runs trains along 11 miles of track from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, was set up after British Railways axed services to Lewes along it in 1958.

Soon realising vintage locos could be a draw, its founders began buying up and restoring old engines, stations and re-laying track. Today, the railway boasts 30 locomotives, 150 carriages and wagons and, in normal times, 250,000 annual visitors.

In the wake of the controversial Beeching cuts of the mid-1960s which saw 5,000 miles of track ripped up, more societies sprang up to save old lines – along with rusting steam locos, which finally retired in 1968.

There was The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in West Yorkshire, where the original Railway Children was filmed, the Dart Valley railway in Devon, the Severn Valley Railway in the Midlands, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and many more.

Half a century on, there are some 156 heritage lines across the UK, with over 500 miles of track and 460 stations. They range from narrow-gauge gems such as Snowdonia’s Ffestiniog Railway to the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, the only remaining “mainline” steam railway.

These attractions, worth an estimated £400million to the UK economy, draw 13 million visitors a year and employ 4,000 staff were

TRANSPORT OF DELIGHT: A vintage Bluebell Railway engine and inset, the 1970 Railway Children film that captured the enduring appeal of steam trains

while largely depending on the tireless work of 22,000 volunteers.

The “golden age of steam” is sometimes dismissed as a bit of a myth. But no one who has seen the 1945 film Brief Encounter, with its iconic scenes filmed at Carnforth station in Lancashire, could fail to be won over by steam’s romantic appeal or not feel a pang for a more graceful age of travel.

Indeed, as far back as 1953, when The Titfield Thunderbolt hit cinemas, featuring a fictional attempt to save a steam branch line from the growing menace of the motor car, it was clear that many were already realising that there was something special about steam – something worth saving.

As the era of these vintage technological marvels passed into history a growing movement was determined not to let them disappear. In 1975, the National

Railway Museum opened in York, showcasing some of the nation’s most famous locos, like the fastest ever – the 126mph Mallard. Museums such as the one at Didcot, Oxfordshire kept working engines going, while replicas such as Robert Stephenson’s Rocket were built and the famed recordbreaking Flying Scotsman, was restored at the cost of millions.

In a 1980 TV documentary, the globetrotter star Michael Palin enthused: “I suppose true railway buffs love all engines, but most of all they love steam.”

And in the ensuing decades other famous fans, among them Chris Tarrant, Michael Portillo, Fred Dibnah, Dan Snow, Julia Bradbury and Guy Martin have presented popular steam-themed TV shows that prove its enduring appeal. Meanwhile, programmes such as UKTV’s Steam Train Britain reveal the dedication of those contributing untold hours railways.

But just why do we love them so much? Some fans enthuse about the different classes of loco, bogies and technical specs of the engines and rolling stock, which come in all shapes and sizes.

Others long to fulfil childhood dreams of trying their hand at being drivers or firemen, harking back to a time when these wizards of the track boasted the glamour of film stars.

But for me it is the unique combination of sights, sounds and smells that makes the steam experience so bewitching.

It’s the howls and chuffs, the smoke, grime and grease, the whirr of the wheels and the visibility of all that human effort needed to power up these finely-tuned machines.

Plus, there’s often the chance to climb on to the footplate and peer into the blazing heart of the beast.

There are the little things too: that mysterious allure of slam door carriages, those cosy waiting rooms with roaring fires, and simply getting your old-style ticket punched by an inspector.

Pto maintain the

ERHAPS it is all helped by the knowledge that steam railways were a proud British invention that helped transform the world.

Or merely the thought of where our TV period dramas and movies would be without them.

It’s not just men of a certain age, like me, who are devotees. Women such as my friend Sophia are far from immune.As she puts it: “New trains might be faster and slicker, but they just don’t have the same character.”

Children love them too, no doubt partly inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express and Thomas the Tank Engine. Some lines now lay on special Thomasthemed services with locos sporting the famous characters’ faces.

My son loved his school’s “wartime evacuation experience” staged on my local Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. For him, a steam engine is the closest he will ever get to a real-life dragon.

While the future of many lines is now on a knife-edge thanks to lockdown, the public have rushed to help. The Bluebell Railway has, for example, raised more than £300,000 to continue its work.

And both the government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund have provided a measure of financial aid for the sector.

But as some heritage railways plan to welcome visitors back, there will be the inevitable pressure of doing so while adhering to coronavirus measures such as requiring passengers to wear masks.

And without our continued support many lines may fall silent forever. Buy your tickets now, I feel a summer family outing coming on.

‘There’s often the chance to climb on the footplate and peer into the blazing heart of the beast’