Railways are a more environmentally friendly way of travelling than road or air, but whilst the new age of rail is all about high-speed bullet trains, some of us have time for slower versions as well.

Old-style steam engines burning coal still emit carbon, but at least they carry a lot more passengers/freight for the same emissions than the average road vehicle. A quick internet search shows a lot of work being done on reducing the carbon footprint (trackprint?) of railways generally – including more efficient diesels, and even modern steam locomotives burning bio-fuel instead of coal, and perhaps the ultimate of a solar powered steam train (solarsteamtrain.com).

When I was a kid we used to take a steam train down to the seaside – the photos below are of that actual train, taken in the late 50s or early 60s, on its regular working run:

On the right is further down the same line, as a boy I always looked forward to going over the very narrow old bridge to Hayling Island, on the south coast of England.

The whole line was closed in 1963, along with hundreds of others all over the UK – part of a government closure of ‘uneconomic’ branch lines in favour of road transport.

The redundant tracks suffered a variety of fates. Some were turned into roads, footpaths or just built over. But many were just left as they were, becoming overgrown wildlife havens, and many of these are now being restored by hundreds of local Railway Societies, mostly bringing back steam trains for tourists, but a few using diesel too .

I now live near the border with North Wales and we have several of these railway renovations in the area.  The top photo, right, is in our nearby town, with a group of small diesel engines all dressed up but with nowhere to go – so far.

In the middle is the stretch of line nearest our house, about a mile (1.6km) away. The rails are a little rusty as it hasn’t seen a train in 48 years, but maybe in the next year or two it could get connected again. The plan is to re-link the track to the mainline station, catering for local commuters as well as tourists.

Further along that line, in the bottom photo, is an old country village station, now restored with a buffet car permanently parked at the platform and open as a cafe. It makes a nice break when we’re out walking that way.

They have about a mile of track open, so far, beyond that station with a mixture of diesel and steam trains. Hazel and I took a ride on it a while back.

Just over the border in Wales is the old Welshpool to Llanfair line, now fully restored with working steam trains – still burning coal, but maybe that can change in time without losing too much authenticity. The carriages are from an old Swiss railway, which is not very historically authentic in Wales anyway . . . We recently took the 45 minutes each way ride on that one too.

The photos below are from that track, entirely run by volunteers – basically a lot of old men, all very properly dressed in the correct uniforms, and playing with a giant train set. But great fun and much appreciated by other oldies, like me, feeing nostalgic:

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