A plea for common sense to prevail...
IN THE past month, the Heritage Railway Association has asked both the English and Welsh governments to allow one UK mine to remain open in order to produce the comparatively small amount of steam coal needed to supply our sector – rather than allowing a far bigger global carbon footprint to be created by shipping in the necessary fuel from as far afield as Australia, Colombia, South Africa, and the USA, when here in Britain we have so much beneath our feet.
As we closed for press, HRA CEO Steve Oates told me that there had been no response from either.
In this post-COP26 era of a vocalised and renewed determination to phase out coal, both governments will be mindful of the reaction from climate change protestors of being seen to allow even the slightest chink of new light to pass through a rapidly closing door. Plans to open a new coal mine in West Cumbria have come under heavy attack from the environmental lobby over the past two years, for example. There seems to be a concern that if you make an exception for one, you will have do so for others, with the perceived potential for dire political and PR consequences.
With the Ffos-y-Fran coal mine in South Wales having stopped supplying our sector prior to its imminent closure, UK supplies have dried up – at a time when our heritage railways are an essential part of our tourism industry, on which countless jobs both directly and indirectly in local communities depend. On News, pages 14-15, we see heritage lines of all sizes cutting down on steam-hauled services to save on coal, the shortage compounded by rising fuel prices, including that of diesel.
The vast majority of public visitors to heritage railways are attracted by steam trains. If they can no longer run, venues will not be able to generate the income necessary to cover their overheads, placing their survival at risk.
I support the arguments laid down by the HRA and others that running heritage steam is unlikely to make even the mildest and negligible contribution to climate change.
Figures show the UK heritage railway sector is responsible for just 0.02% of CO2 emissions from 26,700 tonnes of coal – less than half the figure for the burning of charcoal in garden barbecues around the country each year. Perspective is badly needed here – and fast.
The heritage steam sector has been playing its part to tackle climate change, with the ongoing trials of environmentally-friendly alternative fuels such as Ecoal.
It may well be that a small mine might find the production of just one type of coal – maybe under a rigid licence as to who it can supply – to be an economic non-starter. But nonetheless let us try and find a readily-accessible source at home, even if it is just for the medium term.
Starving heritage railways of basic essential fuel and later claiming that it is part of a winning strategy to tackle climate change, the biggest threat to our planet, would be tokenism at its very worst, and will achieve absolutely nothing towards that goal.
“We see heritage lines of all sizes cutting down on steam-hauled services to save
on coal...”