Heritage at risk
The Ffestiniog Railway, the Flying Scotsman, the Bluebell Line, and 150 or so others contribute £600m a year to the UK economy and employ 4,000 people. Heritage rail is vital for the tourism economy of such towns and villages as Porthmadog, Goathland, and Buckfastleigh, whose railways attract film crews as well as thousands of visitors. But they all consume high-quality steam coal, and the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) is worried that the UK will run out of its reserves before 2025 – the anniversary of the world’s first public steam railway service, the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Shipping coal from South Africa, Australia, Colombia, and the USA results in five times more CO2 emissions than domestically mined coal. But there is almost no domestic production anymore. Ffos-Y-Fran, near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales, is the only large-scale mine in the UK producing coal of the required quality, but its permission to mine expired in September 2022. Controversially, the mine’s owners have ignored the closure notice and are appealing against it to Welsh ministers.
Heritage railways use around 30,000 tonnes of coal a year, equivalent to the amount a coal-fired power station (all now closed) would have used in a week. Alternative fuels for heritage steam locomotives are being researched and developed, but at present none can completely replace the need for coal.
Living among ruins