Britain's steam age trains that NEVER go on strike! Hop aboard a historic railway and step back in time
The glorious British trains that NEVER go on strike! Hop aboard a steam-era heritage railway and step back in time through majestic countryside to gleaming old stations...and not a picket line in sight The trackRailway Expert recommend boarding the Dartmouth Steam Railway from Devon for great seascapesEpping Ongar Railway from Essex operates beer trains in which locally brewed real ale is dispensed from the barrel
-10997271-image-a-37_1657703813113.jpg" height="705" width="470" alt="Rail expert Andrew Martin reveals Britain has over 120 "preserved", or heritage, railways" class="nothing" / >Britain has over 120 "preserved" railways, or heritage. They vary in length from one mile to 30 miles, and each is a portal to the past.
Often the theme is the 1940s , so preserved stations tend to bristle with posters proclaiming "Dig for Victory" or "Careless Talk Costs Lives", so prevalent during WWII, but some will take you back to the 19th century, others to the 1970s.
The lines are run by 22,000 volunteers and 4,000 paid staff, carrying 13 million passengers a year over 800 km of track and contributing half a mi billion pounds per year to the economy. Most operate between March and October; many are also open during the Christmas holidays.
There is no equivalent phenomenon in any other country, and the lines reflect our idealization of paths iron and countryside.
In 1935, when the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in Devon closed, a wreath was laid at Barnstaple Station bearing the words: " Maybe he is not dead, but sleeping." (And the L&B is currently being reopened in stages.)
The first line brought back from the dead was the Talyllyn in the North Land of Wales, closed in 1950, reopened in 1951, after a campaign by railway writer L.T.C. Role. At 19...
Britain has over 120 "preserved" railways, or heritage. They vary in length from one mile to 30 miles, and each is a portal to the past.
Often the theme is the 1940s , so preserved stations tend to bristle with posters proclaiming "Dig for Victory" or "Careless Talk Costs Lives", so prevalent during WWII, but some will take you back to the 19th century, others to the 1970s.
The lines are run by 22,000 volunteers and 4,000 paid staff, carrying 13 million passengers a year over 800 km of track and contributing half a mi billion pounds per year to the economy. Most operate between March and October; many are also open during the Christmas holidays.
There is no equivalent phenomenon in any other country, and the lines reflect our idealization of paths iron and countryside.
In 1935, when the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in Devon closed, a wreath was laid at Barnstaple Station bearing the words: " Maybe he is not dead, but sleeping." (And the L&B is currently being reopened in stages.)
The first line brought back from the dead was the Talyllyn in the North Land of Wales, closed in 1950, reopened in 1951, after a campaign by railway writer L.T.C. Role. At 19...
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