Unabridged version of letter:
Your excellent article "The Keepers of the Collection" (SR 279) raises some serious issues relating to the future of steam on the main line. On the one hand it says "every child in Britain should have the opportunity to see a steam locomotive working flat out", but on the other hand the museum warns that its stock of operating locomotives has an expiry date, and that their indefinite operation in the future cannot be assured.
I have recently heard a very similar message from someone closely associated with privately owned main line steam locos. I quote: "Old locos are just that - old. Fatigue failures will become a major issue if regulation doesn't beat the current mainline fleet first. Whatever way we look at it 'old' steam is living on borrowed time. Being hands on with xxxx I'd personally give the loco one more 7-year mainline stint and that will more or less be it. If the loco was to come back again it would only be for a few runs a year, not the hectic programs of recent times". And "…. the length of time mainline steam has left is as much related to the lack of workforce as to the age of the locos. Anything can be repaired with money but having the right people to look after them and to do the support crew duties is another thing. The lack of people will help to kill mainline steam for sure."
But the situation is actually bleaker than that. Even given an ongoing supply of working locomotives and dedicated people to maintain and operate them, there will be ever-diminishing opportunities for future generations to witness the magic of steam operating in "flat out" on a modern railway system that is every year becoming a more hostile and overcrowded environment for 'Classic Steam' operation.
Declining opportunities to run a diminishing number of locomotives operated by a decreasing number of enthusiasts, sounds (to me) like a scenario for a rapid loss of interest in live steam within the foreseeable future. And where will that lead us? Who, in 20 or 30 years, is going to care for all the lovingly restored and adored steam relics that we all like to believe will remain as they are forever? What will happen to them when there is no more main-line steam to impress itself on the minds and imagination of future generations? It's a question that hangs over more than a few rusting relics left under the care of an irresponsibly managed museum in Belgium that we have all read about recently.
If a new generation of enthusiasts is not nurtured and trained to take over the wonderful achievements of the railway preservation movement over the last 50 years, what is to become of the steam locomotives that become surplus to requirements as interest in their operation and maintenance declines? Where the money will come from to keep them in (at least) visibly good order? Where the space will be found to house them? Your article makes it clear that the NRM isn't going to have room for many more exhibits, and almost no space for more steam traction. It's terrible thought, but the day could come when future generations of museum-keepers who have little interest and no love for steam, will follow the Belgians' example by disposing of non-unique steam relics rather than continuing to pay the costs of keeping them. Can we now afford to sit on our laurels in the belief that such things could never happen in this country?
So how to square the circle? What can be done to ensure the future care and protection of all the lovingly restored locomotives that our generation cherishes so deeply? The answer seems simple enough to me, and that is to take steps to ensure that future generations are given the opportunity to see steam operating "flat out on the main line" for the indefinite future; to do something to ensure that tomorrow's children are inculcated as we were through exposure to the magic of steam locomotives operating at speed at or near the limits of their capacity.
The solution seems clear enough, since it has been spelled out within the pages of your magazine several times over recent months. Wardale's proposal to build a modern high-speed steam locomotive capable of operating in the modern railway environment is surely the key that will unlock the future for steam. Such a locomotive (or more likely a fleet of them) would be capable not only of finding paths within a high-speed rail network, but with its record-breaking capabilities, flashy colours, "brand name" train and 21st century styling, would quickly find a path to the hearts and minds of the young, thereby maintaining both the interest in, and enthusiasm for, steam that will be essential for its long-term survival, and for the survival of all the magnificently relics of the past age of Classic Steam that mean so much to us all.
The lack of enthusiastic response to Wardale's articles is (to me) astonishing. It might be imagined from the letters that you have published that his ideas represent a threat rather than a salvation to 'Classic Steam' much as his magnificent "Red Devil" represented a threat both to classic steam and diesels on South African railways nearly 20 years ago. Yet now, with the benefit of age, the "Red Devil" seems to have earned its rightful place as a "classic" within the minds of "enthusiast" fraternity.
In the same way I have
absolutely no doubt that his 5AT will be seen not just as a classic in 40
or 50 years time when it retires from active duty, but that the NRM will
be throwing its doors open to it, and giving pride of place for it to stand
beside their other magnificent piece of locomotive history: what by then
will surely be the "previous" speed record-holder and popular
favourite, "Mallard"!
Chris Newman
Beijing, China