As you probably know, all British heritage railways are currently closed and their staff furloughed under the ‘lock-down’ instituted by the British Government about a month ago. There has, however, recently been an interesting development:
Steve Oates, Chief Executive Officer of the Heritage Railway Association, took a call from Sir Peter Hendy, the Chairman of Network Rail (the operator of the UK national railway network) a couple of weeks ago. Sir Peter wanted to know whether the UK’s heritage railways could, if needed during the Covid-19 crisis, provide experienced staff to help run the nation’s railways.
As the HRA has commented “That call was an honour. It acknowledges the capabilities and professionalism of the people who run our member railways. Those are the qualities, along with good old-fashioned railwayman (and woman) resourcefulness and resilience that will enable us to weather this storm”.
Stay well everyone!
