A direct comparison between the UK and US in terms of railroad and steam preservation. A fascinating look at the disparity between the two, written by a Trains correspondent. The level of activity here seems inexplicable when compared..to the UK. The short pictorial essay leaves out any potential explanation for this. Is it culture, values, the nostalgia factor? It left me scratching my head, wondering why? One thing that perhaps is a factor just based on common sense, is the willingness to donate time and money..but there has to be other reasons as well...
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/photo37-01.htm
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
I have been doing a Goggle Earth/Wikipedia study of rail routes in Great Britain. The scale of railroading there (at least comparable to North America) is incredible. There are about 9,000 route miles of railway line. (Actually that was reduced from about 19,000 miles in the 60s through the Beeching Axe.) Virtually all these miles have passenger service. I recall reading about a town of a few thousand people between Newcastle and Carlisle. Wikipedia said that the rail passenger service had been drastically reduced -- down to about 11 trains per day in each direction. Wikipedia gives station usage figures. Most stations have steadily increasing usage. Some single track is being doubled and even some abandonned track is being rebuilt.
I am constantly running into preserved/tourist/heritage lines. Some of these are decades old and some of them are expanding. I recall reading in trains years ago that the British were "crazy" about trains.
Let's start with geography. The UK compared to the US is a compact place. I know that John O'groats to Lands End is about the distance from New York to Chicago, but in reality most rail preservation sites are easy to get to. The Severn Valley Railway,among others is an easy drive from London. Steamtown, on the other hand is a long drive from most of the United States. A visitor to the Severn Valley Railway will get a good idea of what train riding was like in the 1950's. That is also one of the big differences. Here in America is there any place where you could learn what it was like to ride a train in the 1950's? We have to understand that there is more to preservation than getting a locomotive and coaches together.We have to convey what riding a train was in another era.They do it so much better than we do on this side of the pond.
It also didn't help that by 1971 our passenger service was on its last legs and in the UK passenger service was still viable,even after the Beeching disaster in 1963.The Brits learned from their mistakes and the country knows how important rail service is. They also have a very strong sense of history and know that preservation is their connection to the past.
Unlike the USA, the Brits were famous for holding on to obsolescent or even obsolete industrial machinery and practices. They didn't entirely give up on steam until well after 1965 so they had a lot of equipment that could be converted to tourist/preservation uses. Also, with the advent of deindustrialization the British became very aware of their status as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution so they've preserved a lot of stuff, not just railroads. Nowdays, anything that attracts tourists means badly needed jobs and economic activity for out-of-the-way places in the British Isles. Finally, there's a psychological factor. With craft related industries like shipbuilding, aircraft assembling, car manufacturing and the like fast vanishing from the British landscape, there's a great need to undertake hands-on projects purely for the feeling of accomplishment that comes with the completion of a technological challenge. The US isn't quite there yet but our day is coming!
The ratio of railfans to general population in Great Britian is extremely high compared to the United States. All kinds of people are "train spotters" in the U.K. The British probably have a higher regard for history than we do. So, more railfans, more regard for the past, means move steam preservation and heritage lines.
WELL! Somebody's gotta say it!
Thanks, Wally for sharing that website: http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/photo37-01.htm
You really have to hand it to those Englishmen!
They sure can do a lot of 1' to 1' scale model railroading on a small table!
Those pictures are really beautiful, those guys really know how to "tart' up an old steam engine.
It isn't just the trains in Britain! Pick up a copy of "Aeroplane," an excellent magazine about vintage aircraft of which there are plenty over there. The Shuttleworth collection, vintage warbirds, you name it! Classic cars are everywhere, vintage steam powered boats! A "trainspotter" is generally considered an eccentric, but my British friends all say that being eccentric is perfectly reasonable. Any kind of spotter is often called an "Anorak" and these include real ale lovers. Pub/beer spotters exist and often trainspotters and beer spotters are one and the same person. There are World War 2 weekends in Britain where everyone dresses in one uniform or another, or civilian dress of that era. WW2 is still on most people's minds, unlike here. I recently went on a rail excursion to Germany near Trier and Coblenz. The Brits look at the modern station buildings and one said- "It looks like the RAF did a little urban renewal around here." Everyone laughs. There's so much going on over there, I couldn't imagine ever getting bored!
Pub/beer spotters exist and often trainspotters and beer spotters are one and the same person.
An apalling and outrageous observation on which you could not possibly expect me to comment!
Yours in the pink,
Andrew Harper
Scottish Railway Preservation Society
Diesel Group Shedmaster
54light15A "trainspotter" is generally considered an eccentric, but my British friends all say that being eccentric is perfectly reasonable.
A "trainspotter" is generally considered an eccentric, but my British friends all say that being eccentric is perfectly reasonable.
How true, from my observation, being thought of as an "eccentric" is actually something of a complement in the UK.
And there is a lot in words: being a "railway enthusiast" is far more respectable than being a "rail-fan". If it weren't for Beebe's glorification of the interest, rail-fans here would be considered even more deviant than we are now.
gbrewer
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