Who would want to run a railway?
Escapism: ‘the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.’
Escapism, then, is what we have always been able to turn to steam railways for. At this time of grim reality where we are constantly having to adapt to new, unprecedented and difficult ways of life in 2020, the prospect of visiting a preserved line for a dose of recreation, or even to help out, has never felt more attractive, or more important.
Precious images of smoke wafting from the chimneys of a handful of locomotives around the country as lockdown measures slowly ease will gladden the hearts of our thirty odd thousand readers; a sign of hope that the life we now yearn for might just begin to emerge from its chrysalis again.
Hope, sadly, does not compensate in any way for the hugely complex challenge that railways are now working their way through, many with an eye on reopening as soon as possible after the Government’s hoped for announcement in early July that the leisure and hospitality market can begin to lift its shutters just in time for summer.
Risk assessments as long as your arm now need to be realised to the satisfaction of the regulator; from both the health aspect of preventing the spread of coronavirus, as well as ensuring that “ring rusty” railways (the ORR’s words) bring themselves up to speed – without rushing in.
We touched on these difficulties last issue. Since then, a handful more outfits have taken the quite understandable decision that the logistical risks are too big to tackle in the current climate – logic that is only
amplified by the series of unknowns around how many people might visit.
High ticket sales at attractions like zoos and National Trust properties, which have been given dispensation to open ahead of railways, does give cause for some assurance that there is still a pent-up demand for such escapism.
But optimism is a finely balanced thing. With the virus still very much extant in the population, we can only hope that the ‘R’ rate continues to head in the right direction. But like everything this situation has shown, that in itself is unpredictable.
Right now, railways can only plan for the multitude of possible scenarios that might face them over the coming months, regardless of whether they plan to relight the fires or not. Which is why we must continue to support our steam in whatever ways we can.
Risk assessments as long as your arm now need to be realised to the satisfaction of the regulator