Heritage railways very much here to stay – they are reminders of the past
WITH regard to David Holt’s letter in Platform, issue 278, ‘Will steam preservation also move into the past?’ – as a similarly aged veteran who has spent the last 45 years with a heritage steam railway, I would say the answer is ‘most definitely no’.
I am not a steam buff nor was I ever a gricer and the only reason that I came to be involved with railways was my attempt in 1976, with others, to prevent BR from closing the main line between Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. We did not succeed and, in 1981, the society that had been formed to try and prevent the closure was given a choice – to buy the line or admit defeat. It was decided that a strictly-limited railway would be a lot better than none, and I was given the unenviable task of floating a public company (the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway plc) and guiding it through its formative years.
Dave Goffey, the society’s chairman, and I agreed a purchase price with the BR Property Board of £15,000 for the 15-mile section from the outskirts of Cheltenham to Broadway. By the end of 1985, the necessary Light Railway Order (LRO) had been obtained and the purchase of this section of the line had been completed. Unfortunately we couldn’t buy the whole 25 mile line, as being a putative railway company with no operational history, we would not have been unable to obtain the necessary LRO.
Continuation
While David’s statement, that the people who will remember steam trains as a part of everyday life are rapidly diminishing is correct, it is also completely irrelevant to the continuation of the heritage railway leisure industry, and his comment that preservationists just like ‘playing trains’ is frankly absurd. Operating a steam train is only a fraction of the work involved and digging out drainage ditches in the pouring rain is hardly to be rated as ‘a pleasurable operation’. Because the use for which something was originally designed has become redundant, it doesn’t mean (as David implies) that it can’t be used for some other present-day purpose. In fact, quite the reverse can apply (of which the alternative use of buildings is a prime example).
So, why will steam preservation not move into the past? Because increasing numbers of people of all ages, including young parents and their children, delight in spending a day at a heritage railway, or floating along a peaceful canal or visiting museums to see venerable vehicles, planes and ships. Steam railways, like canals and transport museums, keep us in touch with, and are pleasant reminders of, our industrial past.
My neighbouring main line railway used to carry freight and passengers at speed across the country – now, its successor, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, carries holidaymakers and tourists at a sedate 25mph behind vintage steam engines – and in the process considerably boosts the local economy.
Passion
Canals were the railway’s predecessors at carrying freight – now they are a whole leisure industry in their own right. All of these leisure pursuits have young enthusiasts learning old skills and there has been substantial growth in the whole refurbishment industry to service the many new restorations and new-builds.
It has been an absolute pleasure for me, as a long-retired manager of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway to see its steady growth from virtually nothing to its present example of a leading and well-run heritage steam railway and I sincerely hope that the leisure industry will be able to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic without too much long-term harm.
Tim Bazeley, email