What happens when they want their railway back?
HEREIN lies the ultimate heritage railway conundrum. Several of the earlier volunteerdriven standard gauge‘preservationist'schemes started out in an attempt to save a particular line from being closed by BR, or to restart regular public services. The Bluebell and the North Norfolk railways are two such schemes which immediately come to mind.
Neither succeeded in this, their original goal, but their sterling efforts created a very different animal – a heritage railway which, while it could never afford to run daily trains and incur the losses that BR had increasingly suffered, as the steam era drew to a close became a new type of major visitor attraction.
As we know only too well, heritage railways became significant players in many a local tourist economy, not least of all to the north west of Manchester, in the form of the East Lancashire Railway.
Its revivalists took on an unwanted railway with missing infrastructure, including station buildings, and within a decade had turned it into a star performer in the heritage sector.
But – and it is a big one – what if the powers that be decide that half a century after sitting and watching passenger services ended by BR, they want “their railway back,” as outlined in Headline News?
Now backed by a Department for Transport Restoring Your Railway feasibility study grant, the aim of this local council is to tackle congestion on roads leading into the city – at first glance a commendable cause in an age when climate change and global warming is a mass public concern and increasing daily. The local authority believes heritage services could still run alongside its new breed of potentially battery-operated converted DMUs.
Should the revivalists sit back and let it all happen in satisfaction, that their original aim to reopen a line and run public trains will at last be realised? Or are there other factors that have since come into play, such as the highly-positive contribution that the ELR makes to the surrounding area?
Impose a regular daily commuter and shopper service and you would restrict the scope of the heritage line to hold events – such as galas, 1940s weekends, driver experience courses and Santa specials – that raise vital funds. But there again, might some form of hybrid use of the line that is amenable to both camps be found?
We would dearly like to hear the views of readers on this issue.
From my perspective, I wonder whether regular commuters would jump at the chance to drive to Rawtenstall, hop on a train for a few miles to Buckley Wells, alight at the interchange station, wait around to board a Metrolink service to Manchester, and then welcome the prospect of a two-halves train journey back home again.
Or might they decide that it is far too fiddly, and therefore far easier to take the car or bus all the way there in the first place?
We all know, with much marvellous hindsight, that there are many railway lines that should not have been closed by Beeching or afterwards – and many classic cases whereby the vacant trackbeds should have been protected from development just in case their time came again.
Whatever happens, Heritage Railway will keep you updated with breaking news on this and the rest of the preservation scene. To ensure your regular copy, turn to page 30 and take advantage of our Christmas subscription offers.