Main line mitigation
So, what about main line steam? During periods of high fire risk, Network Rail may need to impose periods during which steam locomotives will not be at the head of trains. However, the nation’s infrastructure owner goes to great lengths to ensure that steam can remain at the front of a train without setting fire to the countryside.
Network Rail can take a number of measures before it resorts to an outright ban, as Ian Stone, NR’s customer relationships executive (charters), explains. This includes reducing the load of the train if a train isn’t fully booked: “Dropping a coach means a locomotive won’t have to work so hard”. Similarly, NR asks locomotive owners to ensure ashpan sprinklers and spark arrestors are working properly before a locomotive runs on the national network.
The last resort before a total steam ban is including a diesel in the train, either directly behind the steam locomotive or on the rear.
Network Rail – and the four steam TOCs – analyse meteorological data and then assess which restriction(s) will need to come into force. Only when things reach ‘very high’ or ‘exceptional’ levels does action need to be taken.
The system “errs on the side of caution. It assumes there won’t be any rain and predicts the worst picture possible”, Ian explains. “Often, we find it gets better as you get closer to the train running.”
If things are still bad three working days before a charter is due to run, a conference call is arranged between NR and the implicated operator(s), and measures to be taken are discussed then. Ian adds: “Certain locomotives are more prone to starting fires than others and we take that into account; we don’t just impose a blanket steam ban.”
“We have to remember that, at the end of the day, we’re doing this so charters can keep on running. It might not be perfect with a steam locomotive working hard, but we need to keep the operational railway running.
“If a locomotive becomes known as a firestarter and a load of people having a jolly day out have shut the West Coast Main Line, then suddenly charters get a bad name, because if we have a lineside fire, we probably need to switch off the overhead wires. If we get it wrong, the headlines will be on the 6pm news that the WCML has been shut all day with tens of thousands of trapped people.”
The only exception to the above is West Coast Railways’ daily Fort William-Mallaig ‘Jacobite’ services. In the Highlands, a Mobile Operations Manager conducts a daily assessment and has the final say, Ian adds.