THE OFFICIAL VOICE OF PRESERVATION
HERITAGE RAILWAY ASSOCIATION CHIEF EXEC STEVE OATES TACKLES STEAM’S BURNING ISSUES
WHY DID you get involved in railway preservation? Was it the lure of steam, the chance to get your hands dirty as a change from the day job, or perhaps even a lifelong passion for signalling? A bit of a wild guess I know(!), but I bet it wasn’t for a love of governance.
For most visitors and even volunteers, governance is probably an invisible, slightly abstract thing. But while an exciting locomotive fleet, immaculate carriages and well-kept stations might be important to the success of a railway, good governance is absolutely vital.
We’re pretty unusual in the heritage rail world in that our governance structures have, for the most part, just happened. If a railway’s governance arrangements were specifically ‘designed’, it was probably done at the outset of that particular organisation, which might have been 40, 50 or even 60 years ago now.
Steam locomotive boiler standards from 40 years ago wouldn’t cut the mustard now. Carriage maintenance regimes from
40 years ago would almost certainly be frowned upon now. And the limited public facilities, like toilets in a Portakabin around the back, that were so familiar on heritage rail stations 40 years ago, are not really considered visitor-friendly now either.
So why do we expect our governance standards from 40 or more years ago to have remained static? Guidance from the Charities Commission has totally changed in that time as, of course, has the entire regulatory environment in which operational heritage railways work. Expectations of professionalism from local authorities, funders and pretty much everyone else with whom the sector interacts, have been utterly transformed.
As I alluded to above, governance is probably not what our volunteers really want to spend their time doing. But it’s every bit as essential as track maintenance and a whole host of other tasks that go largely unseen by our visitors.
Just like any organisation or sector with a large voluntary input, individual heritage railways have politics. But often political issues are derived either directly, or indirectly, by outdated governance structures.
With so much change in our lives over the last two years, owing to the pandemic and other pressures, I suspect that now may be the best time in a generation to look at the governance structures our railways have.
What would the ideal governance structure look like at your railway if you were starting afresh today? Will it tackle some of the long-standing political issues that exist? Will it, for the first time, resolve exactly where responsibilities and accountabilities lie? Will it ensure the organisation has people leading it who possess an appropriate and diverse range of knowledge, experience, challenge, skills and strategic thinking to cover all aspects of the business and operation? How would the ideal governance structure compare to what is actually in place now?
Tackling governance in itself might not be particularly exciting or appealing and, in reality, there’s never been a good time to shy away from expecting and developing strong governance. But now, more than ever, it’s time to stop shying away and to make sure the important role of good governance is at the top of the agenda at your favourite heritage railway. If not, its future – and all the good work and funding put in over many years – could be at significant risk.
BOILER STANDARDS FROM 40 YEARS AGO WOULDN’T CUT THE MUSTARD NOW