The volunteer problem facing heritage railways

The railway preservation movement is 69 years old this year. What started with a group of volunteers in a Welsh valley has now grown to in excess of 200 railways and railway centres of differing gauges across the UK.

Thousands of volunteers give their time to run and maintain hundreds of miles of railway.

Some railways are fortunate to employ several members of paid staff, but the life blood of almost all heritage railways is their volunteers – a veritable army of them.

In a parliamentary debate in June 2019, Lord Faulkner, president of the Heritage Railway Association, gave the following figures: Railways attract 13 million visitors a year, employ around 4,000 staff and depend on more than 22,000 volunteers.

‘Productive’

Lord Faulkner rightly highlighted how much volunteering on a heritage railway has to offer people, regardless of their age: “For students, a steam railway offers a living example to support so much of the school curriculum.

“For older volunteers, steam railways offer an active and productive activity for people who might otherwise have a sedentary lifestyle.

“They unite people from a wide range of backgrounds and a wide geographical area, supporting social cohesion.”

As a long-standing volunteer myself, I’d have to agree. In this digital age, railway volunteering can offer a stark and beneficial contrast to our computer-led lives. Not to mention heritage railways often act as atraining ground for the national network.

However, the reason Lord Faulkner was speaking on this debate was because the long-term future of the railways could be at risk. As the original volunteers begin to step back because of age and infirmity, the number of volunteers rising up the ranks is not enough to replace them.

An All Parliamentary Group report from 2018 – Engaging the Next Generation: Young People and Heritage Railways – found young people (under the age of 18) comprised only 5% of the current UK volunteer railway workforce.

Since university and later life commitments can easily draw people away from volunteering, often securing a volunteer’s interest and commitment before this age can be make or