The heritage experience

As a volunteer on the nascent Hampton & Kempton Waterworks Railway (HKWR), I really enjoyed

Benedict Le Vay’s article about the desirability and/or utility of heritage railways (RAIL 951), although I was disappointed that the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway was not mentioned.

KWVR runs daily services all year round for the public, with discounted fares for local people. This makes it a reasonable alternative to cars and buses for shoppers/family visits up and down the Aire valley, as well as a good alternative if journeying by train further afield. I am sure that other heritage lines do (or could do) the same.

There are other old non-National Rail (if not heritage) railways kept in good nick for commercial reasons - for example, the major portion of the Skipton/Grassington branch to Swinden quarry.

Parents may drag (really?)

children to a heritage railway for their first visit, but from experience it’s the children who bring their parents (and friends) back time after time - provided, of course, that the fare structure makes it affordable.

As far as the HKWR is concerned, it can only be for the experience/fun since it goes nowhere. Yet families revisit several times per season, season after season.

Peter Binns, Ottershaw