Future of preserved railways

[JMORG]

Got the Talyllyn railway magazine yesterday. A section was devoted to coal; talking about how preserved railways will cope after 2024 when all coal fired stations will shut. It also spoke about a potential ban in household coal and the potential for open-cast mines to shut because they haven't had their planning permission extended.
With the gradual elimination of fossil fuels; will preserved railways die completely? I am aware of "renewable" fuels but using them would require massive modifications to both steam and diesel locomotives; generating controversy over whether this constitutes "preservation".
Would be keen to hear ideas from you guys.

[Robert Hammond]

I have previously been involved with full size steam road engines as well as one full size preserved steam line both of which have been using polish coal for many years, which produces more clinker than welsh dry steam coal and is generally not as good but is available. Conversion away from fossil fuels has to be good for efficiency and general public use, but surely its use will be continued for preservation groups.

[Big Jim]

I can't see coal disappearing any time soon, far to many people still rely on it for heating and hot water. There are enough users world wide to keep a demand going for many years, it might get more expensive though.

[Peter Butler]

If the UK government are determined to meet this target there are few options left for any future use of coal, whether for commercial or domestic use.
The closure of coal-fired power stations is something they can control directly, however, small mining operations might try to continue to supply preservation lines and other small users. Either way, UK and import sources could be actively discouraged by crippling taxation and other controls, making its use uneconomical for such operations.
If a 'special case' is made for one use, a 'snowball' situation could occur and that would not be allowed...... the end is nigh!

[Soar Valley Light]

I'm afraid I share Peter's views. I think we will see a move towards a total ban on combustion of non smokeless fuels altogether (and a move to make smokeless less attractive too). Big Jim's point that many people still rely upon it for domestic purposes is true, even in this country, but most appliances are capable of swapping to smokeless products. I predict the expansion of bio fuel replacements for domestic use. Is this scaleable to use in heritage steam loco's - I don't know? Unless something like this can be developed I'm afraid the sun may be starting to set on preservation

Andrew

[Clinkard]

I'm sure the issue is not with smoke. The issue is about burning fossil fuels and greenhouse gases, currently in power stations, but with the fairly obvious and expected eventual expansion to all users. There may or not be exclusions for preservation or other uses. I think it important that this are not taken out of proportion, but events should certainly be carefully watched and all opportunties taken. If not divided then we will hopefully not be conquered.

[Wallace]

It’s not necessarily the banning or not of fossil fuels, it will be the decreasing number of filling stations and general access to fuel that will be the problem. As now with electric chargers being few and far between the same will be true of petrol stations in the future. Railways won’t go, they provide too much to the economy, they will just become less economic to run as regularly as they are today.

Hopefully the organisations like the NTET will lobby for our future enjoyment.

[IanC]

It's not just coal that will be the issue. Many preserved railways (certainly in the UK) are kept going by an increasingly ageing volunteer effort. All resources are getting more and more in short supply or too expensive.

[JMORG]

It's not just coal that will be the issue. Many preserved railways (certainly in the UK) are kept going by an increasingly ageing volunteer effort. All resources are getting more and more in short supply or too expensive.

I don't think this is as much of an issue as people believe. Going to the Vale of Rheido this year; only saw one member of staff who looked above the age of 30. FR and WHR had a fair number of young people working as well. We even had a knowledgeable young (20's) lad with his family sit with us on the WHR open carriage (obviously) who was apparently full time on the L&B!

Being from Gloucester I can tell you that a lot of young people are also involved with the Dean Forest Railway. Not sure about GWR but I suspect that it would be in a healthier position compared to the DFR.

We thought that the Fairbourne Railway was quite heavily run down with lack of staff. Barmouth Ferry was an empty building when we were there. Apparently Fairbourne is scheduled to be abandoned to the sea in the future; not sure if this is overturned (?)

[Soar Valley Light]

I share Ian's concerns. Some railways can attract younger volunteers but by no means all. I may have said elsewhere on here before but when I started my heritage railway career (around 10 million years ago!), it was a requirement of almost every railway that you volunteered in an engineering department for some time before you would even be considered for the 'chocolate' jobs of Driver/Guard/Signalman - and you were expected to maintain that involvement if you were lucky enough to be accepted into one of the 'glory' grades. Most lines could not run if they still insisted on this, too few people are prepared to take an active part in the construction and maintenance of the railway the want to operate. This leaves the hard work to a very unique group of individuals who enjoy the graft - a very small percentage of the volunteer labour force. There are rarely enough of these remarkable individuals to cope with all that needs doing and many lines have had to resort to paying staff to carry out these tasks. People rarely have enough time to fill more than one role, life is too busy these days. The days of 'early retirement seem largely to be over and that valuable pool of middle aged people is not there either. That presents a whole new series of difficulties - but I digress.

The fact of the matter is that, even with this policy of 'come one, come all' recruitment into the operating grades, many lines are now struggling to cover all the work. I hear reports of Guard shortages, Signalmen shortages and even Driver shortages from all over the country. I'm aware that this has resulted in service cancellations in a limited number of cases.

There are many aspects to these problems and page upon page could be written on the subject. I take great comfort from the number of younger volunteers I see entering the Heritage industry, whether or not it will be enough to keep every railway going I seriously doubt. Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong!

Andrew