Fire Risk

It was steady. The grass is going green again, after weeks of being yellow.

 

Absolutely. They are saying it will be weeks of rain before the hosepipe ban here is lifted. But in terms of the Tynesider on Sat, I could see the NE zone being green lighted now at least until the next heatwave. That's assuming there's a loco!!!

 

There can be no disputing that in many areas water stocks are depleted, what continues to be confusing is NR's assessment of fire risk particularly here in the north west. I'm not sure if this is an over cautious response to the fires earlier in the year or something else. Tangmere's incendiary incident on the Cumbrian coast was on 5th April and that involving 60007 near Blea Moor was on 11th June. There have been plenty of rain days since; heavy rain, moderate rain and drizzle. In June the north west region had the highest rainfall in the country, ranging from 75% to over 200% of the monthly average (1991-2020); other regions were below 50% but steam still ran often with few restrictions.

Perhaps the wet weather had little impact on the tracksides and they remained dry, parched and extremely combustible. This does not appear to be the case as seen in recent the videos posted on here. See the "Waverley" thread posts #2 and #3 (Jul 6) and the "Dalesman" thread posts #11, #13 and #20 (Jul 10).

On a more local level, we live in Darwen, 720 feet above sea level, not far from the southern portal of Sough Tunnel, 8 miles east of the WCML and 4 miles south(ish) of the East Lancashire Line at Cherry Tree. Whilst the spring was dry, the nearby land has never looked brown or parched and I can't recall anyone watering their lawn with a hosepipe. This photo of the area across the road was taken today,



The nearer area flanks the drive to a nearby hotel, it is owned by the hotel and had a "strim" about a week ago. The land on the opposite side of the drive is owned by the LA and was mowed around 10 days ago. Beyond that are the lawns of the various houses. Everything is growing well and is green, green and more green!
Oswald T Wistle aka "Bewildered of Darwen"

 

I cannot help but agree. Both the S&C and the WCML over Shap have had more than their fair share of rain recently. The Lake District and the rest of Cumbria even more so. Around Hellifield the farmers are mowing bumper crops of grass for winter feed. There was heavy, persistant rain over the S&C again on Saturday (the Ribble in Settle rose by about 2 feet in 3 hrs on Saturday evening), with more yesterday evening and it's just started raining again with more forecast.

 

I agree it's getting confusing, because people are conflating water supplies with the combustibility of the vegetation on the lineside and immediately surrounding it. Fire risk - the subject of this thread - is dependent on the latter, so the colour of the grass is, I suggest, much more relevant than the level of the water table.

 

A further question is how much more rain will need to fall in the north-west before NR decide to allow steam.

 

Back from a week in Greece where I’m sure a black status would be in force and more cats than Oswald has posted!

Green nationwide as far as all notified steam movements are concerned, though NW region remains Red UFN still.

 

If the grass is the key problem - my grass has livened up nicely after the last few days, but other plants are still looking just a tad dry.

 

The continuation of Red fire risk in the North West Region simply confirms the incompetence of Network Rail’s office in Manchester following their equally ridiculous Black rating two weekends ago.

 

Or you could equally turn it on it head and ask why for example on June 25 the Swanage Belle was diesel hauled due to fire risk, yet with no meaningful rainfall west of Southampton since then, tomorrows DCE is presumably steam worked if everywhere else is green.
Previous years have at least had a logic you could follow, this year I am lost.

 

So, if I have navigated the thread properly, the UK overall now has a green status, meaning that tomorrow's 'Dorset Coast Express' should be able to have a working steam loco (45212) leading?

I agree completely by the way, with the difference between a low water table and dampened vegetation being fundamental. Yes, water stocks are very low, but the fire risk has dropped hugely after several thorough soakings over much of the UK.

 

In theory the DCE tomorrow could run with diesel…..If coaching stocked allowed.

Whilst I do see the frustrations with the current fire risk and some of the levels NR set - The North West is not straight forward. It covers a large area (Perhaps too large) and has a lot of land which simply hasn’t just got enough water yet. The grass on parts of both WCML north and S&C isn’t green, it still shows signs of dryness and as such they will naturally want to make sure they don’t make an adverse decision

 

Indeed - virtually any tour in the UK could run with diesel, but my point was that if the UK fire status is green, surely there is no reason for the advertised steam not to be used fully as motive power (unless something is afoot with 45212 that I am unaware of).

 

Are you referring to the UK as a whole, or just the NW? I can confirm that, here in Surrey, after a deadly dry spell, things are pretty moist now (with widespread heavy showers again today). That would seem to be supported by the general green status?

 

Only the last several posts concerned the DCE, so the S&C and its environs seemed less relevant. We shall just have to see what transpires 'down here'.