Diesel power replaces steam as heatwave hits heritage railways and main line tours
THE heatwave in late June and early July has hit the heritage sector on both the national network and preserved lines with diesel traction replacing steam because of‘tinderbox’conditions on the lineside.
On all routes affected by the dry weather, a Network Rail protocol has come into force whereby a steam locomotive must have a diesel positioned behind the tender and, in effect, doing all the work, ironically echoing the end of BR steam in 1968.
One exception has been West Coast Railway’s‘Scarborough Spa Express’, where the diesel was allowed to go at the back of
