An appreciation of the steam railway preservation scene

What professional enterprises the heritage railways have become since steam was first banned from the national network in 1968. I want to thank publicly all the dedicated visionaries and grafters who have made this possible over the years. To begin with, these lines tended to provide rather short trips, on severely truncated routes, in infrequent trains, running to rather sparse timetables. Often with only one engine in steam, I thought myself fortunate if the locomotive was a prized survivor from BR and not a former industrial tank.  

Today, the heritage railways have extended and consolidated to provide a vast range of different visitor experiences, from Peppa Pig to “pigging out” in an indulgent, luxury dining car experience. The Barry legends have continued to come off the production line for the second time in their lives and gala days with the leading players, especially, offer a feast of authentic steam entertainment for enthusiasts and a much wider public. They continue to re-establish old links with the national network wherever they are able to and have rejuvenated and improved the quality of their infrastructure almost beyond recognition. Inventive marketing strategies continue to bring passengers back to the railways as they used to be.

On the main line, steam still abounds despite recent problems. Nearly half a century after the disappointment of the national ban that accompanied the official end of steam in 1968, we now have a revitalised steam railway scene. The Great Britain roams the country and a range of operators comb the network conceiving new routes and itineraries for steam. I could never have dreamt that I would watch a Streak pass through Newark at 92 miles per hour, in 2013. Fire risk, engineering works, congested pathways, engine failures, well-publicised mishaps and under-booked trains still lead to postponements and cancellations but fail to dampen enthusiasm. All this while the national network itself is ablaze with a wide range of liveries and the system is just bulging at the seams with more passengers than it has ever carried before.

My own lean years, as far as steam was concerned, coincided with family and work commitments, so for some time it became a sideshow, visited less frequently than I would have liked, but valued on the rare occasions all the same. Our children experienced many a ride behind steam that they have no doubt long forgotten. Perhaps they have simply merged into a single steamy haze, as we entertained them with Connect 4, Flower Fairies, Star Wars figures, Hula Hoops [the edible kind] and Ribena, huddled around the Formica-topped tables in the Mark 1 coaches, wiping the condensation from the window and peering out into the damp and gloom of an English half term holiday landscape. Under such conditions, I kept the faith - if somewhat intermittently.

Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tank No. 41241 in Haworth yard on the KWVR, February 1969

My preserved steam photo archive is largely the results of these forays into a railway world that I suspected had gone for ever in 1968. Dates were in some cases a little imprecise, so I decided to simply quote the years and months when the films were developed - in the old way, with two visits to the chemist, or, later on, by mail order. Most of these pictures were taken before digital technology suddenly made the practicalities of railway photography a whole lot easier. I’m glad I occasionally persuaded my young family to dip into my old hobby for the day. I’m equally pleased that I usually remembered to take my camera with me.