The complete steam news magazine

Heritage Railway Opinion - 22 December 2011

Does our heritage fleet of locomotives and rolling stock portray the whole spectrum of the United Kingdom’s railway history, or just the romantic parts?

Back in the Thirties, no museum apparently even contemplated saving one of the last steam railmotors for posterity. Today, the magnificently rebuilt Great Western Railway No. 93 is hailed as a priceless artefact which forms the missing link between the steam age and diesel/DMU era, and has helped land owner the Great Western Society the coveted Heritage Railway Association’s Annual Award.

Similarly, Brunel broad gauge once accounted for a huge slice of the country’s
rail network, but in 1892 it was all but swept away, and afterwards even classic main line locomotives set aside for preservation were scrapped, leaving just the one vertical-boilered shunter.

We have been going much the same way with electric stock. As there is currently no electric heritage line, there is nowhere for it to run under its own power, although in a handful of cases some enterprising smaller railways have used battery-powered Parcels Motor Vans to provide traction. Unless it can be begrudgingly used as loco-hauled stock, it takes up valuable siding space with little enthusiasm to stop it slowly but surely rusting away until the inevitable day comes. You only have to look at the fate of the Great Central Railway’s 4BIG unit this year to see how precarious the future of ‘preserved’ electric stock is.

If we are really serious about preservation, then outfits like the Electric Railway Museum at Coventry must not only be applauded – it has just carried off the HRA’s Annual Award for Small Groups – but actively supported.

Steam will always be the predominant image of the heritage sector and is probably the reason for virtually all family visits. That should not mean that other forms of traction should be consigned to the dustbin of history: do you take a classical symphony and cut out the ‘boring’ bits, leaving only the popular sections that everyone knows and make for a rousing last night at the proms?

The electric units being saved at Coventry are tomorrow’s nostalgia. We eagerly look forward to the debut of the rebuilt ‘Brighton Belle’ to, no pun intended, switching people on to the idea of heritage electric traction. A fleet of heritage units of more types for running with special dispensation over the main line is surely the next step forward.

It is hugely encouraging to see the support given to the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway by two local authorities in north Devon in recent weeks, namely the transfer of a section of trackbed and a grant towards a western extension. If it continues to exist at all, the Euro will not always be as strong as at present, and a return to favourable exchange rates and cheap foreign package holidays will see such localities fighting to win every single tourist.

However, the decision by the local council to offer the lease of Crewe Heritage Centre for sale makes for dismal reading.

Admittedly the centre is no Severn Valley or North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but in arguably the world’s most famous railway town, a museum showcasing its glorious past is a must. If the current operator has not been able to do more because of limited financial resources, then surely it is up to the council to see what it can do to help?

A pedestrian walkway from Crewe station to the centre would be a great start. As it is, the centre has been left all but hidden behind the massive recent extension to a supermarket.

Maybe a future option should be to create a steam heritage theme park in part of Crewe Works, as a major tourist income generator for the town?

Heritage railways have done much for their local economies. There are cases, however, where the question should be asked – not what can they do for their local council, but what can the local authority do for them? It’s not a case of charity, but investment.

Robin Jones
Editor