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The dieselisation of preserved railways!

andyram

Entry posted by andyram

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I remember visiting a local model railway show a few years ago, I can't remember where, and seeing a young lad displaying his first ever show layout. For someone of probably no more than ten years of age the scenic detail was excellent. I do not remember the name of the layout, but what I do remember is my father's criticism as we walked away. He was less than impressed with the "authenticity" of the trains the lad was running. During our time watching the layout I recall that we saw two trains pass through his station. One was made up of British Railways maroon Mk 1 coaches, hauled by a Regional Railways liveried diesel. The second was made up of "blood and custard" Mk 1's, hauled by a blue and yellow liveried diesel. My dad was less than impressed feeling that this would "never happen!"

 

After the last ten days or so, I can tell my father that yes it does. I guess this lad was modelling a preserved railway where, let's be fair, anything goes! A recent visit to Peak Rail provided an example of the first of those particular trains. I have not visited for a while, and had never travelled on the newly extended line into Matlock Network Rail station. Sat at Rowsley Station I observed the train of maroon Mk 1's arrive, hauled by a Regional Railways liveried class diesel loco. At the rear an Austerity 0-6-0 in pseudo J94 livery followed quietly. The train was top and tailed with steam and diesel traction. The reason? The extension into the network rail station has taken away the line's run round loop. The old "Matlock Riverside" station retains this facility for services in January and February, but the network rail station has no run round facility.

It seems a strange decision to me. Why extend a line a few hundred yards, but then have to use two locos and therefore double the fuel on services. Surely that does not make financial sense? Maybe I was just feeling sore as this meant my train was only steam hauled one way. blogentry-13478-0-80867500-1344456648_thumb.jpg

 

The following week I visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where Sir Nigel Gresley was in steam. I hope you enjoy some of the shots I have taken of this wonderful loco.

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Arriving at Levisham

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Arriving at Pickering

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Departing Grosmont.

 

Now after travelling behind the A4 from Levisham - Pickering and back to Grosmont, we broke our journey in order to take the above picture and visit the loco sheds. Sadly, the following departure was made up of blood and custard mk 1's and a blue and yellow liveried class 37 diesel! Gutted!! The 1 in 49 "Goathland bank" is not quite as appealing when all you can hear is a lawn mower growling in front and smell the stench of diesel oil and blue smoke!

Now I appreciate that a lot of people are fans of diesel locomotives. I have enjoyed many excellent modern image layouts at exhibitions, and I liked this lad's particular layout even with the diesel models, but I am not a fan of the real thing and when I visit a steam railway I expect to travel behind steam so this turn of events was very disappointing, especially when the same locomotive took charge of my second Grosmont - Levisham journey later in the week.

It seems that the diesels are gradually becoming more common on our heritage lines. Are we seeing dieselisation all over again?? Last weekend I visited the GCR where half of the departures for the day were diesel hauled. A "period" notice in the waiting room at Loughborough stated that due to the "current modernisation the following departures will be hauled by modern diesels". Following this I drove to the model railway exhibition at the GCR's Nottingham site. All trains here were diesel hauled!! I didn't travel on either line! Today's midweek GCR services saw 3 / 6 trains diesel hauled again! At least my daughter and I managed to get some steam hauled miles in today. I reckon, against the odds, I have managed over 100 steam hauled miles during the last 3 weeks. But I'd better watch out for those diesels.

Hang on...what is that entering my Skaleby West station this evening....

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It seems that I can't escape the curse of the diesels. Even my model railway has succumbed!

 

I'd better finish with a steam shot!!!

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ClikC

I've never visited Peak Rail, but having read your post, I decided to have a look at their website.

 

"Peak Rail welcomes you in 2012 to journey back to a bygone age and experience the thrill of steam and diesel on our preserved railway, operating between Rowsley South and Matlock Platform 2 for a distance of 4 miles and open to the public throughout the year."

 

A preserved railway while mayhap be a charity, will still (like many charitys embrace) embrace good business practice, to maximize profit. While costs may increase from 'top and taling' (I seriously doubt costs double, remember Diesels and Modernisation reduced the costs associated with steam), what they have done is efectively double the target market.

 

And more power to them I say! While you may not appciate 'a lawn mower and blue smoke', if I want to see a kettle, I'll go to the Kitchen ;)

 

Either way, money from either type of enthusiast helps support the enjoyment of the other.

 

Regards

 

Matt

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andyram

Like I said Matt, I respect there are many diesel enthusiasts out there as there are steam. Perhaps preserved railways can better publicise which services are diesel hauled and which are steam allowing passengers to make their own choice. The Great Central's timetable leaflet clearly states which services are diesel hauled as does the Severn Valley. The G.C has increased the number of diesel hauled services in recent years and I am sure this is to "double their target market" as you put it. That makes sense.

As Peak Rail have to use two engines for their service these days I am sure there are better options than top and tailing. Perhaps the engines could be swapped at Matlock, with the leading engine uncoupled, and the other loco could stable in the loop at the Riverside station and run onto the back of the train. This means certain services from Matlock would be diesel / steam hauled in both directions and passengers could choose which they wanted to travel behind.

The NYMR diesel hauled services were not even mentioned on the railway's timetable board. Since I had visited to travel behind steam it was a big disappointment to end up with a diesel. I am sure if you turn up to a diesel gala, you would be unhappy if your train ended up being hauled by an unadvertised "kettle" ;-)

 

Clearly the railways need all the money they can get, and using both types of traction allows a wider scope of enthusiast. Mind you, I'm sure many non-railway enthusiast families do visit to travel behind steam! As a TTI I have dealt with many disappointed people when the train I am working on has been diesel hauled. I just think that some railways can make a better job of advertising which traction is on which service, where possible. That way everyone can make their own choice and there is less disappointment.

 

I wrote the blog entry, partly tongue in cheek, and partly to spark some debate...I'm glad it did lol.

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Steven B
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Diesel hauled trains require a smaller crew. If you're a preserved railway trying to make the most of the school summer holidays and are short of volunteer drivers & firemen then diesels could be the only option.

 

Happy modelling.

 

Steven B.

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andyram

Good point Steven. Had a good day's modelling today. The layout shot looks very different after today. Will post some pics when everything is dry.

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RJS1977

And of course sometimes a steam loco has to be replaced by a diesel at short notice owing to mechanical issues (a diesel can be started in a few minutes, as opposed to several hours for steam).

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andyram

Very true. This happened to me at the NYMR last year when a loco failed. On the occasions mentioned above the use of diesels was not to substitute for failed steam engines however.

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Guest Dah

The current issue of the NYMR magazine 'Moors Line 'mentions the problems related to the growth in demand in the Pickering/Whitby service.

Quote ' we constantly struggle to fill rosters ( due to the long working day ) and already diesel traction is out in force because of non availability of steam traction'.

The article goes on to outline possible ways in which the service may be modified.

Dave

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andyram

Thanks Dave. I only have the Spring issue, not the summer one. Must be a long day for some as that last train doesn't get to pickering until around 7.30pm. Oh for a big lottery win i'd gladly quit work and go and help out.

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Donw
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On the West Somerset when they had to use diesels instead of the planned steam it would affect the number of visitors not the true enthusiasts but the general public who expected a steam engine.

Don

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andyram

That was one of the points I was making Don. The general public often expect steam and are disappointed if they don't get it. Likewise for steam enthusiasts such as myself. I seem to have a bad run at the moment having encountered diesels on Peak Rail, NYMR, GCR and GCRN all in the space of ten days!

One of the things which annoyed me at the NYMR was the fact that only at Pickering did they state which services were to be diesel hauled. This information was not made clear at Grosmont. Perhaps their staff don't know how to write a "D" on the blackboard!

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pete_mcfarlane
It seems a strange decision to me. Why extend a line a few hundred yards, but then have to use two locos and therefore double the fuel on services. Surely that does not make financial sense? Maybe I was just feeling sore as this meant my train was only steam hauled one way.

I also don't entirely understand the logic behind their extension to the mainline station. They make no attempt to connect with the EMT services, which isn't good on a Sunday when EMT only run every 2 hours.

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Guest Dah

It cannot be a good thing when customers come away annoyed,given the the fact that people expect/hope to travel under steam power & that tickets are not cheap.Also you were not made aware of the scheduling.

I am a member of NYMR but am not involved as a volunteer.As I live

23 miles from Grosmont I tend to check the website to see which locos are running / under repair at anytime & have a drive across usually to take a look into the engine sheds.

You may not be aware that there is an unofficial NYMR forum where

some interesting things are discussed.You could always write/email NYMR or make comment on that forum.

I believe I have seen it stated that the railway has to reserve the right to alter the running of locos to suit events.

I see that today 63395,92214,75029 & 80072 are listed as in service.

 

Dave

 

 

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andyram

.You could always write/email NYMR or make comment on that forum.

I believe I have seen it stated that the railway has to reserve the right to alter the running of locos to suit events.

I see that today 63395,92214,75029 & 80072 are listed as in service.

 

 

I did try and email the NYMR using the email address on their website...I tried three times and the email "bounced back" each time!

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Guest Dah

I have contacted them twice on this address. Good luck.

 

admin@nymr.co.uk

 

Dave

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andyram

I have contacted them twice on this address. Good luck.

 

admin@nymr.co.uk

 

Dave

Sadly this email address didn't work either. Perhaps it is a cunning plan to guard against complaints!

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