Fire Risk

A difficult 'like' but I think that sums it up.
The Met Office website suggests high pressure systems and above average temperatures into September (other forecasts are available - and seem generally consistent). I'd be surprised if we see much resumption of main line steam before October.

 

Can't disagree with that summary either, I had a feeling when on the ill fated VT Liverpool trip last month that it maybe sometime before mainline steam came back.
An NR friend of mine just msgd to say there were 9 lineside fires yesterday alone, that's without the additional risk of steam.

 

Is the Jacobite now steam again, they’ve had a lot of rain up there?

 

I don't think it really stopped, certainly steam at the weekend on both services according to YouTube.

 

For me, I'm more concerned about the Autumn Gala season being wiped out, especially the early one's in September.

 

The Government needs to appoint a minister for drought - that worked last time!

(Then we can all complain about the heavy flooding we will inevitably be getting …)

Tom

 

We have not had the "Save Water Bath with a Friend" campaign yet.
Although some water companies could run that all year it seems.

 

Yes and yes. Very wet up here last week with plenty of "liquid sunshine". Not much that could be set fire to around here. Good to enjoy some of the real stuff (sunshine) today.

Peter in Fort William

 

You are right - this is becoming a very real concern.

I suspect that many railway managements will now quietly be making contingency plans in case they are unable to go ahead with planned autumn steam galas. I suppose the main options are either cancellation or replacement with a diesel gala.

 

Having been a formulary chemist in water based cleaning in the past, we had a good saying - "Save water - dilute it!"

 

That would be the special homeopathic water …

Tom

 

We've just put our visit to the Swanage event on hold, thinking it probably won't happen. Wouldn't be happy to go all the way down there for a pair of 33's.

 

We also had grade 1 tapolene, which we used to confuse issues with some of the more gullible customers . If the pricing was difficult for them an adjustment with this material often helped.

 

MSLR have been diesel only for a couple of weekends now, so you were lucky to get steam.

60007 has also lost several trips, and I can't see it working any of the Kingswear trips before it heads to the Moors in a little over a month's time. Even the light engine move must be in doubt now.

The risk of flooding when it does rain will be very high, and NR will have a lot of infrastructure problems to deal with. They've already reduced services and lowered speeds on the LSW between Salisbury and Exeter due to clay shrinkage distorting the trackbed, and other places must be affected as well. The danger is when the rain does appear it'll end up with heavy, wet soil on top of very dry ground underneath and landslips occurring. On s very local level, our lawn has dropped by two inches in the last few months. It's easy to tell how much it's gone down by - the spike for the washing line was an inch below the top of the soil when I put it in, and it's now an inch proud of the dead grass!

 

Bo'ness still steam as well. I was there on Thursday. Spent last week in Linlithgow and it rained every day. Thick green grass on the fields as well, I'd forgotten what green grass looked like!

 

My payment for our accommodation for the moors gala is due in a few weeks, you'd hope that part of the country should see some rain by early September. The Swanage gala is definitely a concern right now.

 

I follow the weather as a hobby, aside from railways and wildlife, this caught my eye last night, interesting read.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/10/uk-temperatures-heatwave-summer-met-office-warning

Relative to this forum is the element related to Southern Water applying to Government for a non essential water use ban - I contemplated if that could include theme parks and steam railway operations.

I've started musing this summer with railway friends, do railtour operators working with train operators and Network Rail grasp the nettle and plan a higher ratio of diesel tours in the summer for future years, to offset what we've seen this summer. Whereas 1976 was a one-off, the smart talk now is the summer weather of 2026 is the new normal that has been anticipated.

 

There's been a lot of talk about dry summers becoming 'normal'. Climate Change is making extreme weather 'more likely' - i.e 1 in 100 year events will become possible every 10 years instead. A summer like this will still remain unusual, but will more easily happen again.
Likewise, we could also get a very wet summer in the future, our island has many different influences.
What this means for forward planning is that the industry needs more weapons in their arsenal, oil maybe one, heritage diesels is another. The trouble is, we don't know what the weather will be 9 to 12 months in advance when programmes are planned and no one wishes to miss out on long hours and decent weather if it does happen.

 

There has been a lot of praise on here for the immaculate class 40 that appeared on the Fellsman recently. Would that - a Western or a Deltic be more acceptable substitute than a class 47? 37s and 33s have also appeared recently to give variety.
Is it just us enthusiasts that are bothered, does Joe Public actually care?
Does a gleaming heiritage diesel matter, rather than one that is full of rust? (This applies to heritage railways as much as mainline).
I think these are the conversations that need to be had.

 

Even replacing by diesel may not be straight forward as volunteers often book long in advance and those volunteers may only be passed for steam and not diesel. With the steam ban operating departments are at short notice having to find crews passed for diesels. I don't know what sort of relative numbers railways have been steam and diesel qualified crews but I expect it is putting a squeeze on some operating departments having to cover turns for several weeks rather than an odd day. There is no certainty as to when steam running will resume so are you wanting steam or diesel crews in 3 weeks time. Many of these people will be volunteers who may have to book time off work, accommodation etc. so how do you appeal to people to book when they know if rain comes they will not be required?

If the weeks of the steam ban are your annual two weeks volunteering on the footplate how does that affect training, competency requirements.