Fire Risk and Preserved Lines

I would not agree it is reckless, you need to balance economics against risk and at Swanage there is only about one area I can think of (two fields on the left leaving Corfe in the down direction) where there are any crops. There is of course other sensitive areas such as Corfe Common.
Perception you can do nothing about, as one of my old bosses used to say "it is not about the truth it is all about perception". If I see smoke when driving down the Valley Road I think which loco started that, if I see a report of a Heath Fire, of which there are many, I think who started that deliberately.

 

Are the rivets 1/3 normal size?

Tom

 

I recall a story from the 1980s, where a farmer made a claim against a heritage railway [I think it was the Nene Valley] for burnt crops. The date of the apparent fire coincided with a diesel weekend. Said farmer received a criminal conviction for fraud.

 

By volume no. They are 1/9th by size - limited by my ability to only understand square roots and not cube roots.

Bryan

 

From a perception point of view I think the apparent waste of water is a big risk with the public.
Whilst Heritage Lines are a business and not subject to hosepipe bans etc, but as we get to more and more areas having bans and subtle pressure from Central Government about individuals taking shorter showers and the like and little apparent pressure from the same people to make water companies to fix their leaks, I can see such things as columns that continually leak or gallons going straight down the drain when the bag is removed not being received well by the public. Add to that those that feel water should not be "wasted" on such things as a few having a ride behind a steam loco it becomes a difficult perception line to walk.

 

While golf clubs, race courses and the likes are still being watered I think the heritage railway will be fairly low down the pecking order in terms of such complaints.

 

As guard today, one patch of cut hay field certainly burnt opposite Corfe common. . A large amount of fence line (railway side) heather burnt near Afflington. Its interesting to note that the public footpath that runs under bridge 18 has a huge heather fire but some 20 metres from the railway. Dropped cigarette? Whilst being defensive for the railway, I applaud managements decision to run diesels. In my PA announcements, I point out to passengers look left/right to see the charred fields etc as to why we are running diesels.

 

Gary, whilst understanding your water social conscience, Brian Langdon once told me that Dorset would never run dry of water because when it rains in Derbyshire the aquifiers fill up the springs in Dorset thanks to the Pennine chain.

 

Looks like most of England and Wales will be getting at least some heavy showers this weekend, so hopefully most railways will be able to run steam services (if they were planning to do so).

 

At our local line we've countered complaints by using recycled collected water for steam engine use. Suitably filtered and treated, softened as necessary and with added tannins it works fine

 

The water for the Talyllyn at Dolgoch and the old watering point on the extension comes straight from the hillside so probably over 50% not from the mains.

 

The obvious retort is "But what if there's a drought in Derbyshire?"

 

Which is good for the local boilers not having added chlorine and other chemicals.

Cheers, Neil

 

They should write to Dorset and ask for their water back.

 

There was a variation on that from the early days of the return to steam on the South Western. ( Many years ago when common sense was permitted and there was no tracking or Key Performance Indicators for complaints!)

A lineside fire was reported by a steam special and duly the fire brigade turned up and trains were cautioned past the location. Within a few days, a claim from the farmer was received by SWT Public Affairs in headquarters who had enough sense to look at the control log and found the item. The farmer was advised that the fire had been reported by a steam hauled train, so that was unlikely to have caused the fire. If he wanted to take the issue further, the Transport Police Fraud section would be taking an interest. As I understand no more was heard about the fire.
Cheers, Neil

 

These aquifers are filled over years, not next day after a shower in Buxton

 

What actually, statically is the major cause of lineside fires on most of the preserved lines?
I would think it's from Ashpans rather than sparks out of the chimney, so what can you do, as there will always be a need for air through damper doors, to provide bottom air, apart from fitting mesh screens to the dampers, and ensuring ashpans don't have gaping holes burned through them, how much can be prevented by how the engine is being driven, only using enough regulator and cut off ? OK if you have a great big hill, such as on the Bluebell, or Mid Hants, then full regulator to get enough momentum then easing back, is still going to be needed,
Most preserved lines are very mindful of keeping vegetation down, as without something to catch fire, your fire risk is somewhat reduced,

 

Some locos have ash pan sprinklers which is a handy feature to minimise risk.

 

The Watercress Line is now using Diesel motive power for the section between Ropley and Alton due to the dry conditions. They are currently operating a Thomas event with Thomas/Dave (with Diesel helper) still in use between Ropley and Alresford.

 

I have seen it questioned several times in this thread if ashpans are a greater fire risk than sparks out of a chimney but I would expect the coals from an ash pan would be more likely to fall on the ballast rather than elsewhere since they are between the frames. In addition you have the wheels etc providing a partial barrier to the coals falling outside the rails?

I would have thought it fairly easy to see if ash pans or sparks from the chimney were a probable cause as if there is no burning or next to the track then I would have thought it unlikely to be an ashpan issue. I may be totally wrong as I am not familiar withj ash pans and their openings.

In the past I often wondered if it was people discarding cigarettes that might have started many fires but times change so it is not really a potential issue these days.