All of our heritage lines are outstanding
THERE are many people who visit Torbay today, not necessarily by rail, but because of the trains. For decades, the Dartmouth Steam Railway, with its unique blend of sweeping coastal landscapes and estuarine views, has been an Outstanding Visitor Attraction in the south west, and now that has been officially recognised on a national basis by the line winning the major Heritage Railway Association award to that effect.
Such an accolade was never as richly deserved as it has been in the past year. With Britain and the rest of the planet plunged into the biggest crisis since the Second World War, the railway was determined not only to survive, but to succeed in the face of adversity.
We reported how, despite most full-time staff being on furlough, the management team climbed mountains not just to reopen the line and its riverboat fleet, but also to ensure that as a premier attraction it could not be made more Covid safe for visitors.
The extension of a platform at its Paignton terminus to accommodate longer trains to ensure social distancing, the painstaking and lengthy process of creating clear screens to divide carriage seats, and the use of a fog machine to annihilate all forms of virus and bacteria, showed that in the first lockdown, the railway placed itself at the cutting edge of the big fightback.
However, this railway was by no means alone in its determination to adapt to the unprecedented circumstances presented by the pandemic. Every heritage line and museum that has reopened has its own stories of achievement against all odds, often with volunteers to the fore. Indeed, I believe that we have justification to consider the entire UK heritage sector as an outstanding visitor attraction in its own right.
The large Government grants to many venues that have allowed them to meet their running costs at a time when they could not generate income to cover overheads cannot be but applauded, but even more so are the financial contributions made by supporters among ordinary members of the public which underlined the place that heritage railways hold and will always have at the beating heart of our popular culture. Every reader who has donated to an SOS appeal deserves our gratitude.
Particularly inspirational is the story in this issue of eight-year-old Josh Davies, who was so moved by the crisis which threatened the survival of the beautiful Llangollen Railway that he spent his Easter holidays raising hundreds of pounds to help save it. We need many more like him: young volunteers are the future of the movement.
Thanks to the Llangollen Railway Trust, there are fresh hopes that the new spring it is bringing to the Dee Valley might turn into a crop of summer fruits with the return of services – but there is still a very long way to go before then, and again, every last penny of support will be needed several times over.
However, we must never forget what has gone wrong at Llangollen: it should serve as a textbook for every other heritage venue to learn from the mistakes of others, and ensure that warning signs are tackled in sufficient time.
Elsewhere in Wales, we are delighted to report that the would-be revivalists of Anglesey's mothballed Amlwch branch now have a 99-year lease on its rail corridor. Whether it becomes a heritage railway, a regular public service or a combination of both, the branch has the potential to reinvigorate the local economy and promote Amlwch as a visitor destination with all the proven multiple benefits that will follow. Politicians of all persuasions take note: for the same reasons, Llangollen cannot afford to lose its railway.
At Heritage Railway, we pride ourselves on bringing you the latest news of the complete sector, and there has never been a time in its 70-year history that this service is more vital.
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