RING THE CHANGES
The biggest changes in preservation since the end of steam
Although I can’t remember anything about the actual end of BR main line steam in 1968, my interest in trains was revived the following year, courtesy of my younger brother going through his Thomas the Tank Engine phase. I can therefore clearly remember the steam scene in the immediate post-‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ era. It was rather a depressing time. In particular, I recall the bitterness expressed in 1969 by an anonymous contributor to The Railway Magazine that his hobby had been taken away from him. He was not the only one, I am sure. Many felt sad that steam was gone – never, it seemed, to return, beyond sporadic pockets.
Who could have anticipated, therefore, the developments which have taken place in the last half-century? Our hobby has changed out of all recognition…
1 SCALE OF OPERATION
In 1968, the Bluebell and Middleton railways had been running trains for eight years, with the Welsh narrow gauge lines into their second decade. The concept of an enthusiast-run railway had thus been established in the consciousness of the British public, but such lines were few and far between. The Foxfield Railway was formed in 1967 and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway began operations in 1968, with the Dart Valley reopening a year later.
Today, we can enjoy more than 550 miles of steam on preserved lines, with an average of more than two railways for every county in the UK.
Besides the actual numbers of preserved lines, the length of the trains operated, the number of days in which trains run, as well as the mileage of some lines, have all grown dramatically. ‘4MT’ No. 75027 was considered far too large for preserved railway use when it was delivered to the Bluebell Railway in 1968.
With a typical train on an embryonic preserved railway consisting of a small tank engine and two or three elderly non-corridor coaches, such criticism was justified at the time. Now ‘4MTs’ and ‘5MTs’ are regarded as ideal for preserved railway operation, with trains of five, six or even more corridor coaches now common.
There is much debate regarding the optimum length of a preserved line, but whatever our own views on the subject, many of them have extended and some are over 20 miles long. With the opening of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Broadway extension at the end of March this year, Great Western fans have a choice of three lines at least 15 miles long, while the combined Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog railways offer a ride of nearly 40 miles between Caernarfon and Blaenau Ffestiniog.
When it comes to building extensions, the sheer determination of the preservation movement knows no bounds. For many years, the Ffestiniog’s rebuilding of the section beyond Dduallt was the yardstick against which all extension projects were judged, but the Bluebell’s long struggle to reach East Grinstead is another epic tale from preservation history. Still to come is the link-up between the two Great Central railways, with the bridge over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough already in place, not to mention the Rother Valley Railway, pressing ahead undaunted by the obstacles of linking Bodiam with the national network at Robertsbridge.
On the narrow gauge front, the Lynton & Barnstaple, Bala Lake and Leighton Buzzard railways are also pushing boundaries. The drive and successful fund-raising with which these astonishing projects have been (and are being) realised would have staggered the early preservation pioneers.
2 MAIN LINE EXPANSION
Between August 1968 and 1971, Flying Scotsman was the only steam locomotive permitted to run over the national network, a unique experience cut short when Alan Pegler took it to America in 1969.
It was perhaps inevitable that, sooner or later, BR would relent and allow other privately owned steam locomotives to run over its lines, although it didn’t seem plausible to many of us at the time.
When steam did return, however, it could only be operated on certain lines – usually secondary routes with spare capacity. Moreover, trains usually only ran at weekends, and quite a few offered less than 100 miles of steam haulage.
The scale of expansion in the past 20 years has been little short of phenomenal. Privatisation brought new operators, ‘open access’ and something of a free-for-all in which as many as five steam-hauled trains would be running on the same day. The early 2000s featured a number of excursions proudly proclaiming that they were the ‘first steam special to visit ‘X’ in ‘X’ years’.
Now, most of the network has been covered by steam on at least a one-off basis. A few exceptions remain – no preservation-era steam-hauled train has yet emerged from the tunnel at the south end of City Thameslink station to tackle the fearsome 1-in-29 climb to Blackfriars – and none probably ever will.
Who, however, in the days of the BR Special Trains Unit, would have expected to see steam at London Euston, Birmingham New Street, or over Shap? Furthermore, after an unfortunate episode at Eastleigh in 1975 when a few overly keen photographers ventured too near to the live rail in search of a picture of ‘Black Prince’, it looked like the entire Southern electric network would remain permanently steam-free. Thankfully, the ban on steam over the live rail was progressively lifted in the early 1990s, opening the door to steam from London to tourist destinations such as Weymouth and Canterbury.
With the 2018 ‘Jacobite’ season now extended to begin at Easter, the Fort William-Mallaig line now echoes to the sound of steam on more days than it does not.
Meanwhile, Vintage Trains is about to expand its previous levels of operation as a fully fledged train operating company. The arrival of another new operator into the market only this year – Saphos Trains – is a terrific vote of confidence in the future.
Tour operators have found new ways of reaching out beyond the enthusiast community, which has greatly helped expand the market for steam.
Even so, there have been a few casualties among the tour operators and a few worrying incidents.
And of increasing concern is capacity. With more trains – and faster ones at that – running on the network, pathing 75mph-restricted trains on the main trunk routes is becoming harder, while reduced platform clearances are making it increasingly difficult to accommodate some locomotives, in particular Great Western outside-cylindered examples.
All the same, the resilience of locomotive owners, who have been forced to install spark arresters, TPWS and AWS to keep their locomotives running, has been impressive.
Ahead lies ERTMS, but history shows that the industry won’t let this hurdle beat it either. September 1968 was the month in which the first engine left Barry scrapyard– Midland Railway ‘4F’ No. 43924.
Amazingly, 213 locomotives would be rescued, and even if some have been cut up for spares and a few may never steam, the near 150 that have been restored have made a huge difference to both the private railway scene and main line operations.
Indeed, it is fair to say that a good number of preserved railways would not have grown to their present size without the availability
AHEAD LIES ERTMS, BUT HISTORY SHOWS THAT THE INDUSTRY WON’T LET THIS HURDLE BEAT IT EITHER
of locomotives from Barry. Some may not even have got off the ground at all. The current operational fleets of the Llangollen, West Somerset, Swanage, Mid-Hants, Gloucestershire Warwickshire, Dartmouth, East Lancs and Great Central railways are dominated by Barry rescuees. Even older lines, such as the Bluebell, Severn Valley and Worth Valley railways, which were able to buy their first locomotives direct from BR, have supplemented their fleets from those engines which found their way to Woodham Bros.
We would be much poorer in terms of locomotive classes represented. No S&D 2-8-0s or Stanier ‘Mogul’. No ‘U’, ‘N’, ‘Q’, ‘S15’ or rebuilt Bulleid ‘Light Pacific’. No ‘76XXX’, ‘78XXX’ or Duke of Gloucester. No Collett or Churchward ‘Mogul’, no original ‘Hall’, ‘42XX’, ‘41XX’ or ‘72XX’. Remarkably, apart from the latter class, at least one of all the other types listed has been restored to steam.
It is sobering to think that, had Woodham’s been unsuccessful in its tendering for wagon contracts and not left the steam locomotives ‘for a rainy day’, we would never have been able to enjoy Leander, Galatea, Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Duke of Gloucester or the main line’s latest star, British India Line, at speed.
4 AGE OF STOCK AND INFRASTRUCTURE
In 1968, Evening Star was eight years old and Clan Line had been rebuilt only nine years previously. The oldest surviving ‘Black Five’, No. 5025, was 34 years old. Evening Star is now 58; Clan Line’s rebuild took place 59 years ago and the most recently constructed ‘Black Five’ to survive into preservation, No. 44767 ‘George Stephenson’, is more than 70 years old. Webb ‘Coal Tank’ No. 1054 still works trains at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in its 130th year. In 1968, a locomotive of the same age (which this LNWR veteran has reached now) would have been built in 1838 – in other words, Liverpool & Manchester Railway 0-4-2 Lion. Or, to put it another way, the 95-year-old Flying Scotsman running up the ECML amid today’s Class 91 electrics is rather like letting the Stirling ‘Single’ loose alongside the ‘Deltics’ in the mid-1960s.
With locomotives getting older and older and more parts needing replacing, a modern-day locomotive overhaul can often set its owners back to the tune of £500,000 or more.
But it’s not only the locomotives. Mk 1 carriages were still in regular use on front-line express trains in 1968. Now, these coaches are well and truly ‘heritage’ stock, with the most recently built steam-hauled vehicles now over 55 years old.
The ageing of both rolling stock and infrastructure has resulted in major headaches for preserved railways. In recent years, the 1836-built North Yorkshire Moors Railway has been forced to undertake some substantial bridge renewals and replacements, while at the time of writing, the Severn Valley Railway is appealing for funds to repair Falling Sands Viaduct. Deteriorating brickwork resulted in the controversial decision by the Bluebell Railway to demolish two farm overbridges which were no longer in regular use. In summary, the increasing age of stock and infrastructure is a problem which will not go away – indeed, as everything gets older still, it is only likely to get worse.
5 NEW PROFESSIONALISM
As preservation has grown, reliance on volunteers alone has, by necessity, been replaced by a mixture of paid staff and volunteers. Managing directors of the larger preserved railways have often taken up their posts after years in senior management positions elsewhere. Inevitably, this can result in a change in atmosphere from the informality which some of us can remember from the early days in preservation to something more akin to a business.
Such, unfortunately, are the challenges of running a preserved railway if it is to balance its books. As already mentioned, ageing stock and infrastructure can consume money at a phenomenal rate. Few railways can cover their costs by ticket sales alone. Catering outlets, bookstalls, marketing professionals and administrative staff are essential to keep the businesses ticking over.
THE FORT WILLIAM-MALLAIG LINE NOW ECHOES TO THE SOUND OF STEAM ON MORE DAYS THAN IT DOES NOT
On the engineering side, the days of a few amateurs repairing an entire locomotive out in the open are becoming rare. Boiler repairs, and welding in particular, are now handled by paid specialist staff or contractors and indeed, many locomotives are sent away for overhaul to places like Tyseley Locomotive Works or Riley & Son (E) Ltd where there are specialist skilled staff and the equipment to handle almost any task.
6 NEW-BUILDS
In 1968, you could buy a ‘Black Five’ in decent condition direct from BR and run it for a few years without needing to undertake too much maintenance. As parts began to wear out and spares were used up, thoughts inevitably had to turn to the production of new parts to keep locomotives running. As engines came out of Barry scrapyard with more and more parts missing, the industry had to up its game further.
Narrow gauge railways had turned to new-build before Galatea received its new driving wheels, or Duke of Gloucester its new cylinders, but once again, with hindsight, the process which led to Tornado’s high-profile debut in 2008 was a logical and inevitable outcome of the need to be able to produce an increasingly wide range of new parts. Why not go the whole hog and build a completely new engine?
Why not indeed, and full marks to the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust for its determination in fulfilling its vision. New-builds have not yet had the same transformative effect on the industry as the Barry phenomenon, but if someone writes a similar piece to this in 50 years’ time, new-builds may well be far more important by then. Let’s face it, in 2068, a ‘Black Five’ will be as antiquated as the Webb ‘Coal Tank’ is today, or Lion was in 1968.
7 THE GROWTH IN RED TAPE
Health & Safety requirements, the self-assessment of ROGS (The Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006), new engineering standards and so on; the legislation with which steam railways need to be compliant has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. In particular, ROGS has removed some of the distinctions between preserved lines and the national network. We have, however, risen to all these challenges.
There have been a few scare stories that new legislation will finish off steam. With growing concern about pollution, coal-burning steam locomotives do not fit in with the drive for a greener world. Thankfully, steam locomotives are widely appreciated by the public at large and do have their friends in Parliament. In view of the relatively small numbers in day-today use compared to the 1950s, derogations from environmental legislation should not be too difficult to obtain, especially as Brexit could remove the need to lobby any further than Westminster. Nothing should be taken for granted, however. Regrettably, the return of wooden-bodied stock to the main line is unlikely. The magnificent British Pullman train still runs – a barrier vehicle at each end is deemed sufficient. Unfortunately, the sheer cost of compliance with the paperwork necessary to run older stock on the main line effectively rules out any other operators from using older carriages. Those of us who can remember seeing or travelling in the Great Western Society’s vintage train in the 1970s and early 1980s will have to be content with the memories.
8 NEW BLOOD DILEMMA
To have even the vaguest memories of regular steam in this country, you must now be at least 60 years old. Those volunteers that launched the preservation movement were a mixture of career railwaymen and enthusiasts who had spent many hours with their Ian Allan ‘Abcs’ collecting numbers. They had known steam in the flesh and it had captured their imaginations at a young age.
Looking at today’s railway scene, it is hard to imagine Pendolinos, Voyagers or Desiros evoking anything like the same response. Of course, a visit to a steam railway takes you back to a different era, but for today’s youngsters, who have grown up in the digital age, the Stephensonian locomotive must be an alien beast.
Consequentially, it is much harder to attract new volunteers. Thankfully it is not impossible, as a number of preserved railways have proved. A fascination for steam locomotives among the young can be developed and nurtured. Also, much as some volunteers dislike such events, ‘Thomas’ has also proved an excellent recruiting sergeant for preserved railways, sowing those first seeds of interest in steam.
Even so, as the generation who remembers steam before 1968 gets older, finding replacements for retiring volunteers is not going to get any easier. With the state pension worth less in real terms, the number of people able to retire in their late 50s or early 60s and give say, 15 or 20 years as a regular volunteer at a preserved railway is getting smaller and smaller, posing an additional challenge for steam preservation. As someone unlikely to retire before my 70th birthday, I find it so frustrating that it will be many years before
I can spare more than a few days each year for volunteering.
9 GREATER INTEREST IN OVERSEAS
It’s a joy to see our favourite classes still in operation on preserved railways or main line specials, but we can never put the clock back to 1968 or earlier, when steam was in everyday use. We were not the first country to eliminate steam – the Netherlands had been steam-free since 1958, for example – but we were not the last, not even in Western Europe. France held on to steam until 1974 and West Germany until 1977. British enthusiasts may still have preferred the elegant lines of a Stanier or Gresley locomotive, but there was real steam on offer only a few hours’ drive from the French Channel ports and after 1968, many enthusiasts made the journey to see it, discovering, at least in some instances, that foreign steam was much more interesting than they had believed.
With the growth of air travel, steam enthusiasts travelled yet farther afield. Some of the photographs of steam taken on the Ji-Tong line in China or the Kimberley-De Aar route in South Africa must rank among the most stunning railway images ever seen.
Now real steam is virtually extinct, but as it has retreated from one country after another it has been mourned by enthusiasts in this country who perhaps, 50 years earlier, would have taken little notice. Even if we haven’t visited the countries where they operate, many of us can identify a Chinese ‘QJ’, Polish ‘Ol49’, Indian ‘WP’ 4-6-2 or German ‘Kriegslok’. Our pre-1968 enthusiast forebears would have been most impressed!
10
Damn those diesels! Who can forget the front cover of the second issue of Steam Railway? In 1968, some enthusiasts just gave up or switched to following steam abroad. Modern traction didn’t interest them in the slightest. Meanwhile, a younger generation was growing up that had no memories of steam. Scorned by many of the older steam fraternity, these youngsters discovered that diesel and electric locomotives did have a certain appeal.
It would be an exaggeration to say “and ne’er the twain shall meet”. Some enthusiasts were broad-minded enough right from the immediate post-steam years to appreciate both modern traction and preserved steam but, even now, a diesel gala will bring in a different demographic to a steam gala.
As a rule, however, the trend has definitely been towards a more sympathetic view of diesels from erstwhile steam fans and preserved railways. With classic diesels such as the ‘Deltics’ or ‘Westerns’ now no longer in main line use, a certain nostalgia has developed for the 1970s and 1980s when locomotive-hauled passenger services were still relatively common.
Even so, the decision by the Deltic Preservation Society to ask the Bluebell if it could host its 40th anniversary celebrations last year was something of a surprise. It is hard to think of two more unlikely bedfellows than a group dedicated to preserving a class of diesel which ran express trains on the East Coast Main Line and a oncesteam-only ‘Brighton’ branch line in Sussex.
It epitomises how many developments have taken place in the last 50 years which nobody could have anticipated in 1968. If Steam Railway is still going in 2068 and someone feels inclined to write an article in a similar vein, I expect they too will find plenty of developments on which to comment which we in 2018 will not remotely have anticipated.