bluegoblin7
Established Member
Beamish have suspended steam train operations for the weekend as of this morning.
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Which heritage lines do and don't have steam bans currently?
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Falcon1200
Established Member
Not being in, or near, a drought-stricken area the Strathspey Railway was operating steam locos 46464, 46512 and 5025 today!
56xx
Member
Brecon Mountain Railway is now diesel hauled from today until further notice.
Dave S 56F
Member
Middleton railway keighley worth valley railway and east lancs all currently diesel hauled until we get some sufficient rain to saturate the soil depth.
andy33gmail
Member
Had a full return run on a diesel hauled loco & a couple of mini shuttles just shy of the crossing. So managed to enjoy myself nonetheless 
Edit: and after using the sim was allowed into the real signalbox at Holt; received a train, sent a train & authorised the run-round
Edit: and after using the sim was allowed into the real signalbox at Holt; received a train, sent a train & authorised the run-round
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Ashley Hill
Established Member
SDR started using diesels after the recent alert.
SECR 65
Member
Welsh Highland Heritage Railway are diesel hauled this weekend.
thejuggler
Established Member
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- 1,641
I was in NYMR country this weekend. 37 seen in Pickering, 31 in Whitby.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
NYMR - de facto steam ban as only oil burners in use 
Staff indicate situation under review daily but without lots of rain it is unlikely to change soon.
They are getting twitchy about the steam gala in September...............
Staff indicate situation under review daily but without lots of rain it is unlikely to change soon.They are getting twitchy about the steam gala in September...............
JohnofWessex
Member
Not much to set fire to though
YorkshireBear
Established Member
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- 9,662
KWVR Facebook says they are returning to steam today.
56xx
Member
Brecon Mountain Railway back to steam today.
YorkshireBear
Established Member
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There has been several spells of quite heavy rain across Yorkshire for the last few days.
EbbwJunction1
Established Member
The Beer Heights Light Railway (Pecorama) were operating steam and diesel on Tuesday, albeit the latter because the former failed at one stage. A new steam loco was prepared and put into service and they were both running when I left. The route runs through quite a green area, so what precautions they take, I don't know.
Train Maniac
Member
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BIt of a long shot, does anyone know if the Bure Valley is operating steam next weekend (Aug 29th)?
SECR 65
Member
The Bluebell is resuming a limited steam operation tomorrow on some dining trains.
Depending on weather conditions there will hopefully be steam on public services soon.
Depending on weather conditions there will hopefully be steam on public services soon.
Kentish RYS
Member
Spa Valley is already back to steam as well
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- 4,575
Gloucestershire Warwickshire back to steam today.
Do we know if the government did anything remotely useful before or after the Alert, such as give specific advice to the RHA when it chose to "warn people not to light anything that could spark a fire" as to whether it considered a steam locomotive to be as dangerous as "barbecues, campfires, and fireworks."
I was quite a long way through this thread until I realised the potentially catastrophic effect of a wildfire on a heritage railway specifically. Imagine being the guy who accidentally burned down Beamish's historic town? That would cost millions, impacting an entire regional economy (though you would hope there would be a heartwarming positive effort at maximum mitigation).
It feels unlikely, since Beamish is mostly just fields of grass, iirc, but the steam railway itself runs close to if not right behind buildings which you assume due to their nature, things like a 1920s printworks and motor mechanic's, even a stable, would have any number of combustible materials in them. Even just the (very authentic) sight of random bits of coal and general dusty feel of the place, would fuel a proper wildfire, I am assuming.
If Beamish is even required to have modern fire safety systems, they hide them pretty well it seems. And simply in terms of just being on watch for fires, well, in a place as big as that, it's a big ask surely. And you assume also it's not too easy to access for appliances, who, if actual residences in other places are actually on fire, or the moors, might not even be sent as a priority.
Not to be alarmist, but it is terrifying, from a heritage perspective. I just don't know why you'd even risk it, not once the vegetation is visibly dry. Which had occurred weeks before the Alert even in the NE, as far as I can tell.
I was quite a long way through this thread until I realised the potentially catastrophic effect of a wildfire on a heritage railway specifically. Imagine being the guy who accidentally burned down Beamish's historic town? That would cost millions, impacting an entire regional economy (though you would hope there would be a heartwarming positive effort at maximum mitigation).
It feels unlikely, since Beamish is mostly just fields of grass, iirc, but the steam railway itself runs close to if not right behind buildings which you assume due to their nature, things like a 1920s printworks and motor mechanic's, even a stable, would have any number of combustible materials in them. Even just the (very authentic) sight of random bits of coal and general dusty feel of the place, would fuel a proper wildfire, I am assuming.
If Beamish is even required to have modern fire safety systems, they hide them pretty well it seems. And simply in terms of just being on watch for fires, well, in a place as big as that, it's a big ask surely. And you assume also it's not too easy to access for appliances, who, if actual residences in other places are actually on fire, or the moors, might not even be sent as a priority.
Not to be alarmist, but it is terrifying, from a heritage perspective. I just don't know why you'd even risk it, not once the vegetation is visibly dry. Which had occurred weeks before the Alert even in the NE, as far as I can tell.
Swanage Railway is running two trains: one steam hauled and one diesel hauled. Previously they have run both steam hauled in the peak season. I get the impression they are trying to reduce costs but not damage the experience / customer offer.
marshlinker
Member
In truth the use of diesel locomotives only reduces costs in the short or medium term. Major overhaul of diesel locomotives will be prohibitively expensive in some cases once spares have been used up.
There was meant to be a two week period between Monday 10th and Sunday 23rd August where a two steam service ran to test out the feasibility, but it only ran for one day (Monday 10th) before it was cancelled because of the weather.
Amos390
Member
GCRN back in steam again