The Wensleydale Railway

It’s the cold steel, they don’t like it up them!

oh, no.. that was dads army!

 

This has to be the ultimate garden layout Rob

 

That’s the thing with heritage, what gets forgotten sometimes is it’s mostly privately owned, and thus privately funded. So the owners have to weigh up where they put the funds, mechanics so it runs and earns its upkeep, or paint, which makes it look nice, but doesn’t make it go any better.
Then of course you have to consider what is heritage? When does that date start? Is it a constantly moving date (year?)

Don’t forget that when these heritage lines first started, some steam had only been out of service a handful of years.. diesels were still new back in the early 1970’s. Wind that clock to present day- EWS came out 30 years ago! Class 66’s are now nearly 30 years old!! And a class 60 even older. We’re now seeing class 56 and 58’s preserved and returning back to operational duties on heritage lines. Something even I can just about remember coming in to service when I’m 47, so just when do we set that cross over period..??

food for thought.

 

Totally agree. Its an argument had with many enthusiasts... However, the majority of people visiting a heritage railway appear to be non enthusiasts like us, so cant tell the difference between a 2-10-0 tender loco being right of the front of mK1 coach or a 0-4-0 industrial Saddle tank pulling a Mk 2 coach. They are happy if it has smoke out the chimney. (Guest locos however do bring in a draw of enthusiast and photographers.)
Where as, we, as modellers and enthusiasts would probably go to a railway as there is something specific of interest, be it region of loco or model and would not be so accepting of what's pulling what some times.
Again, If you had gone a heritage line 30 years ago, you may have said the same if you had come across a slam door DMU, only just out of service.... back in the late 1990's we took on a 4VEP purely for drag coaching stock. It was left other than the connex branding being removed in the livery it came from down south in. (It did start getting repainted back in to BR blue, but sadly was targeted by metal thief's and the whole 4 coaches scrapped due to it being uneconomical to replace the copper brake pipes and wiring.
And now we have HST's on heritage lines, which I went to London on only 3 years ago, especially at 25mph. 100 mph slower than it should be working at

It is, as you say, disappointing with a pacer