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Heritage Railway Opinion - 7 July 2011

At least we see that the preservation sector is the epitome of the Big Society that Dave Cameron longs to see. I would go one further, and say that the heritage railway sector invented the concept 60 years ago when the Talyllyn was saved.

Back then it was a case of big-hearted volunteers saving one small line; today, there is a whole community which helps individual members to survive. Look at the way many heritage venues rallied around to support the Severn Valley Railway when it was decimated by two floods in 2007. Again this year, the support for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s landslip appeal has been absolutely tremendous, with even miniature outfits like the Echills Wood Railway pulling out the stops to raise money.

While the G/WR has reached two thirds of its £1 million target, we must still look at the glass being a third empty rather than two-thirds full, for without the whole sum, the two halves of the line will not be reconnected. As I said before, if every reader at this precise moment delves into their pockets and empties out all their loose change then sends it to Toddington, that could make a big difference.

Many people regard the Big Society as no more than two words of party political propaganda, but here it is very much working in practice. I accept that operating costs are going up, and following a recession visitors might not be spending as much on meals or in the shop, but several heritage lines are reporting passenger numbers well ahead of expectations.

If Dave and Nick (Clegg) really want to find out how it works for themselves, they are welcome to drop by our offices in Horncastle at any time, and I will happily explain it to them... as long as it is not on the key press day of our four-weekly cycle. I’ll even buy them lunch in the Admiral Rodney!

While I accept that the Olympics next year should bring great prestige to the UK, I have been left wondering whether it is serving a Big Society or a Bigger Society.

Arranged by the previous government, the one which spent our money on Britain’s greatest spacewaste, the Millennium Dome, the costs as revealed to the public very quickly soared by nearly four times what we were originally led to believe. When I see ordinary people who are footing the bill through taxes frustrated at not being able to get tickets because of block corporate bookings, the old tale about the little boy who dared to say that the emperor has no clothes comes to mind.

Whatever the merits of staging the games, it will forever irk me that money to pay for this short-lived event was diverted from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which has been one of the greatest benefactors to the Big Society in terms of making it possible for volunteer-led organisations to achieve projects that would have been out of their budget range, saving artefacts for future generations, and not just in the field of railways. It is the classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I wonder how many items of national heritage in all sectors will be lost because of the resulting shortfall in Lottery grants? Just because an artefact is saved, it does not mean it is safe.

I must applaud the timely intervention of Steve Davies, director of the National Railway Museum, following the sale of Britain’s oldest surviving steam crane to a scrapyard, albeit after metal thieves had rendered its restoration economically difficult. The incident highlights the precarious nature of what we have saved: it is so easy to scrap ‘life expired’ Mk1 coaches and the like on economic grounds, but remember – there will be no more where they came from.

All power, therefore, to the elbow of the Bluebell Railway, which has just officially opened its carriage shed and museum at Sheffield Park, protecting its priceless rolling stock from the ravages of wind and weather.

Robin Jones
Editor