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Heritage railways - museums or railways?

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eldomtom2

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I recently dug up this highly critical article on heritage railways written in 2002 from an academic viewpoint - railway enthuisasts seem to be rather unaware of their bad reputation in academia. Its basic thesis is that they should change heavily to become worthy museums. Some selected quotes, which should give an idea of the tone of its argument and the nature of its recommendations:

[Preserved railways] are more concerned with physical conservation than elucidating the social parameters of industrial development.
[Preserved railways "prefigure" the past] to provide for an uncontroversial reading - social and natural harmony are key themes... [as well as reproducing] "a mythologized account of working class life".
By becoming redefined in terms of the tourist gaze, railways become absorbed into a picturesque rural landscape and thus divorced from their history as parts of industrial society.
Visitors might, for example, purchase their admission tickets in a modern structure, or an older but clearly adapted building, offering the chance to think about the history of the railway, its workforce and its relationship to the surrounding places and landscapes. Only then would they pass onto the terrain of the railway itself. Naturally, the form and content of these displays would be of the utmost importance if they are to be attractive to visitors and are not simply to reproduce the kinds of myths heritage railways already trade on. The most valuable role the exhibtions might perform is encouraging people to think about historical re-enactment as a form of play; this in itself might alert visitors to the different ways the past can be represented and call their attention to the partial nature of the representation they are about to witness.
Part of what is needed is a reworking of the experience of the journey so that greater emphasis is given to the wider landscape and places served by the line, and less to the element of transport and the physical features of the railway itself.

These are (mostly) not arguments solely exclusive to academia - often you find some enthusiast complaining about heritage railways being "Disneyfied". To me the argument strikes at the fact that most volunteers on heritage railways are not really interested in running a museum - they want to run a railway. It also gives insight into the sort of mindset that is probably behind such controversial decisions as the deaccessioning of the T3. Any thoughts?
 
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43096

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I recently dug up this highly critical article on heritage railways written in 2002 from an academic viewpoint - railway enthuisasts seem to be rather unaware of their bad reputation in academia. Its basic thesis is that they should change heavily to become worthy museums. Some selected quotes, which should give an idea of the tone of its argument and the nature of its recommendations:

These are (mostly) not arguments solely exclusive to academia - often you find some enthusiast complaining about heritage railways being "Disneyfied". To me the argument strikes at the fact that most volunteers on heritage railways are not really interested in running a museum - they want to run a railway. It also gives insight into the sort of mindset that is probably behind such controversial decisions as the deaccessioning of the T3. Any thoughts?
There is undoubtedly some truth to it, to a greater or lesser degree (take your pick!). But the irony of academics and bad reputations - you only have to read those quotes to see just how pretentious they can be.
 

eldomtom2

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Oh, I have read far worse on the academic spectrum, including from the article itself - I left out all the stuff about "mimesis", for instance.
 

Flying Phil

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Very interesting......but of course the need for such attractions to have to sully their hands in the search for money to actually exist, I suspect, does not figure highly in such academic research.
I think there would be a very useful research project that could be done, to show the importance of Heritage Railways in providing the social setting, to enhance the mental and physical well being of the volunteers......The savings to the NHS/social care system would probably fund many Railways!
 

Cowley

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Very interesting......but of course the need for such attractions to have to sully their hands in the search for money to actually exist, I suspect, does not figure highly in such academic research.
I think there would be a very useful research project that could be done, to show the importance of Heritage Railways in providing the social setting, to enhance the mental and physical well being of the volunteers......The savings to the NHS/social care system would probably fund many Railways!
That’s very true, and I’d also add that these railways have evolved to have their own history (many having been around longer than the BR era that they’ve tried to recreate).
It’s up to them to make enough money to survive as a business, and also to keep the volunteers who run it interested/engaged enough to want to give up their time week after week year after year so that it keeps going and creating yet more history (imagine some of these lines hitting the 100 year mark as a preserved, private railway one day?).
What a dry Academic thinks about it all is at the end of the day a bit erm, academic...
 
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EbbwJunction1

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I may have misunderstood the article, but it's ironic that it seems to be having a go at heritage railways for raising "filthy lucre" (money to you and me) when Academia is always on the search for money to fund their own research!
 

John Webb

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This article appeared several years before my local preservation project started. As the trustee who liaises with other local museums, some run by professionals, the majority by volunteers, I am aware that that the majority of museum professionals have exactly the same problem as the volunteers in getting the right balance between conservation/preservation/presentation. Many volunteers, not only on railways but in other industrial museums, are aware they have a responsibility to set the context of their work within the social 'landscape' of the appropriate time, and attempt to do so.

A number of railways and railway museums are 'accredited', which means they have been tested against national standards on a regular basis. Funding too from the Lottery has carried weight in improving presentation.

It would be interesting to know if the author(s) of the article would write in the same vein today and about professionally run museums as well as preserved railways......
 

Worf

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The majority of academics are totally out of touch with the "real world" and are theorising about stuff they have no first hand experience of. Just think of the sort of "preserved railway" they would create, if they had time to do it between arguing which of Marx or Lenin were right. I know at least one "tourist attraction" created by academics and a district council when they set up "Celtica" with fat salaries and index linked pensions for a lot of them. Once the initial grants had run out, it failed miserably and closed within a few years. In the meantime they sucked some of the public away from smaller enterprises that had to pay their own way to survive. I am sure there are plenty of other similar "virility projects" run on the same basis that have fallen by the wayside.

Best just to ignore them and leave them to their ivory towers and magic money trees.
 

Yorkshire222

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"Part of what is needed is a reworking of the experience of the journey so that greater emphasis is given to the wider landscape and places served by the line, and less to the element of transport and the physical features of the railway itself."

Don't the more successful/longer lines do this anyway [these days]? I'm most familiar with the KWVR being not far from where I live and certainly these are very much highlighted at stations and on trains. I have myself used the railway to take some very pleasant walks up and down the Worth valley. I doubt there are any preserved lines which still exist in the form the quoted article talks about - they would long since have gone bust.
 

eldomtom2

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The article is rather critical of the Worth Valley - there is quite a bit on how railways, being creatures of the Industrial Revolution, should not be seen as part of the rural lanscape.
 

theblackwatch

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I'm not sure if this academic actually considers what the aims and objectives of such railways are. Take the KWVR for example, given that it has been mentioned on this thread a few times, taken from the Charity Commission's website:

Aims & activities
The core activities of the railway is operating public train services on all weekends during the year and on weekdays during school holidays and a shoulder summer season. In addition the railway offers supporting activities to both generate additional funds and offer the public opportunities to experience different aspects of the railway.

Charitable objects
3. THE CHARITY'S OBJECT (THE "OBJECTS") ARE SPECIFICALLY RESTRICTED TO THE FOLLOWING:
3.1.1 THE PRESERVATION, OPERATION, RESTORATION, MAINTENANCE AND PROTECTION OF SUCH OF THE STRUCTURES, BUILDINGS, PLANT, LOCOMOTIVES, ROLLING STOCK, RAILWAY TRACK AND EQUIPMENT ON OR ADJACENT TO OR CONNECTED WITH THE RAILWAY LINE BETWEEN KEIGHLEY & OXENHOPE, WEST YORKSHIRE (THE "KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY") AS ARE OF HISTORIC, CULTURAL, ARCHITECTURAL, CONSTRUCTIONAL OR SCIENTIFIC INTEREST OR EXHIBIT CRAFTMANSHIP WORTHY OF PRESERVATION.
3.1.2 THE PRESERVATION OF ARCHIVES, HISTORICAL RECORDS AND ARTIFACTS RELATING TO THE KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY.
3.1.3 THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC BY THE OPERATION OF HERITAGE LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK ON THE KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY.
3.1.4 OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY RAILWAY.
 

John Webb

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The article is rather critical of the Worth Valley - there is quite a bit on how railways, being creatures of the Industrial Revolution, should not be seen as part of the rural landscape.
I wonder if the authors failed to realise just how much of the industrial context of the Worth valley has disappeared since the railway was preserved. There have been some spectacular mill fires, those that remain are being used in very different ways to their original purpose, the use of 'smokeless' fuels or other sources of power has removed the smogs that could lurk around industrial areas. In these circumstances the KWVR serves as a good reminder of the valley's industrial heritage.

The preservation project I'm most involved with has the following objects:
"The objects of the Charity are to secure for the benefit of the public, the preservation, restoration,
use and maintenance of the building known as St Albans signal box and the equipment contained
therein. To use the signal box and equipment as a working museum, exhibiting items and
demonstrations of railway signalling history and practice, and other general railway interest."

We don't specifically mention 'education' but most of our visitors happily admit that they've learnt something from visiting us. And this has been done not by formal academic lectures, but simply explaining what we have on show, which gives an overview of signalling from the present day back to the 1890s, hopefully within its historical context.
 

Flying Phil

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On re reading this thread I realised that I didn't know what "Mimesis" was so....
Mimesis - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimesis

Mimesis is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings which include imitatio, imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act of expression, the act of resembling, and the presentation of the self.

......now I must confess that the thought of "Nonsensuous similarity" is probably appropriate when scraping the clag of ages off a rusty steel wagon underframe!:rolleyes:
 
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Calthrop

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Mimesis is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings which include imitatio, imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act of expression, the act of resembling, and the presentation of the self.

......now I must confess that the thought of "Nonsensuous similarity" is probably appropriate when scrapping the clag of ages off a rusty steel wagon underframe!:rolleyes:

"Nonsensuous" in more senses than one, it is felt. These professorial types do seem deficient in a sense of humour...
 

30907

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The article is rather critical of the Worth Valley - there is quite a bit on how railways, being creatures of the Industrial Revolution, should not be seen as part of the rural lanscape.
I would never describe the KWVR landscape as "rural" - it has that typical Pennine mix of rural valley and industrial/postindustrial mill town even at Damems and Oakworth (Oxenhope less so, because the station wasn't well sited).
BTW I can't find a link to the source article, only quotes, have I missed it?
 

43096

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"Nonsensuous" in more senses than one, it is felt. These professorial types do seem deficient in a sense of humour...
Deficient in self-awareness and real world experience, too.
 

xotGD

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I doubt whether any of these academics have ever stood at the front droplight behind a loco working hard.

Perhaps if they did, they might discover the purpose of heritage railways.
 

pdeaves

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The whole academic thing seems to be based on assuming that something should be something else, then laying into it for not being the something else.

Perhaps someone could commission an academic to study why universities are rubbish places to learn about the conditions inside a traditional blacksmith, for example.
 

eldomtom2

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I would never describe the KWVR landscape as "rural" - it has that typical Pennine mix of rural valley and industrial/postindustrial mill town even at Damems and Oakworth (Oxenhope less so, because the station wasn't well sited).
BTW I can't find a link to the source article, only quotes, have I missed it?
Don't actually remember the title, but a search for Colin Divall on Google Scholar should bring it up.
 

Flying Phil

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Don't actually remember the title, but a search for Colin Divall on Google Scholar should bring it up.
He is a well known figure (Picture on Google) and, I suspect, quite a supporter of heritage railways. I think the article was produced early in his career and he has a wider appreciation now.....hopefully!
 
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As an academic-y type I find this pretty interesting.

I don't think that he's wrong entirely, more that he's maybe looking at heritage railways from the wrong perspective, although it's always difficult to get a true sense of the article's intent from soundbites. Scanning through the whole article I don't think he's necessarily overly critical either.

A lot of heritage railways market themselves as a kind of living history experience. For those who aren't train enthusiasts themselves this is a good selling point but while they offer a stylised "historical" feel that's enjoyable, very few heritage railways offer an authentic experience of a railway at any particular time period. Maybe a few places like the railway at Beamish come closer, but that's hardly likely to excite many enthusiasts. Similarly, if historical interest was the only thing we were concerned about then it'd be far better to leave trains in as original condition as possible, and avoid replacing original parts or doing anything that risks authenticity. Running them would be out of the question.

I think on most preserved railways the aim is to operate a railway more than anything else. It's to operate old trains and rolling stock rather than to be a museum. The intention is to preserve trains in a way that allows them to be operated, and to provide an experience of seeing them in action that wouldn't otherwise be possible. The trains themselves (in operating condition) are what's of primary historical interest, while in many ways the line, stations and infrastructure are a backdrop or stage for them. There's merit to that too, you learn a lot more from seeing a Deltic or a large steam engine hauling a train than you do from seeing one in a shed, it's a living being rather than just another chunk of iron, even if the setting and the coaches it's hauling are totally inauthentic.

With a lot of preserved railways struggling these days I wonder whether there's anything they could learn from this? As the article notes there's a lot of aspects of history heritage railways leave untapped. They tend to miss out on local history, and how the railways interact with the people in the local area. To give an example the Scotrail waiting room in Aviemore has an interesting information board about the Jellicoe Express, which is a really interesting bit of history. The Strathspey Railway waiting room in Aviemore is full of copies of Rail Magazine from the late 90s (also historical I suppose...). While maybe going down the pure living history route isn't a viable idea they could certainly think a lot more about being better museums sometimes.
 

John Webb

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...….With a lot of preserved railways struggling these days I wonder whether there's anything they could learn from this? As the article notes there's a lot of aspects of history heritage railways leave untapped. They tend to miss out on local history, and how the railways interact with the people in the local area. To give an example the Scotrail waiting room in Aviemore has an interesting information board about the Jellicoe Express, which is a really interesting bit of history......
Interesting comment. In 2018 the Elstree and Borehamwood Museum set up a wonderful exhibition about the 150th anniversary of the construction of the Midland Railway's "London Extension" in 1868. They not only gave details of the railway, but showed how its presence changed a rural agricultural village into, particularly, Britain's "Hollywood".
After the fairly recent formation of the Bedford-St Albans Community rail partnership, the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust was asked if we could produce a history of St Albans City station for display in their waiting room. This is what we came up with:

draft_4.jpg
 

Flying Phil

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GlitterUnicorn does indeed make good points, as does John W. I think many railways are now putting more of an effort into educating/informing their audience, not only about their railway and its surroundings/use, when it was "active," but also, how it has evolved over the past, up to 50+ years in preservation.
 

billio

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The ELR has a close link with the Bury Transport Museum. I think it would be nice if there was a shuttle service between Bolton Street and a short platform at Castlefields.
 

E759

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The ELR has a close link with the Bury Transport Museum. I think it would be nice if there was a shuttle service between Bolton Street and a short platform at Castlefields.
What and where is "Castlefields"?
 

30907

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The museum address is Castlecroft Goods Warehouse, so I imagine that's where billio means. Not sure you could build a platform any nearer to it than the ELR station entrance on Bolton St though!

Back on topic - Heritage Lottery Fund grants certainly come with conditions about explaining the heritage aspects of a building; I don't know whether grants made to preserved lines come from that pot, but I would expect similar conditions. Heritage panels at stations are becoming common, too - certainly the NR East Lancs route has some.
 

EveningStar

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As an academic with recent research into conservation of heritage railway buildings, I really must not let this discussion pass, even if contributing is nervously pulling the tiger’s ears.

The majority of academics are totally out of touch with the "real world" and are theorising about stuff they have no first hand experience of. Just think of the sort of "preserved railway" they would create, if they had time to do it between arguing which of Marx or Lenin were right.

Harsh. Nobody I know is even remotely Marxist in thinking, and best I managed with Capital is page two before deducing I have a life to lead. As for real world, inside a university it is tangible, something I can touch. And this work seems to be the same as this mythical real world I am somehow missing, in that I have targets to meet, budgets to balance, a fixed leave entitlement (if only I had a tenner for every time somebody assumes lecturers get the ‘holidays’!), managers who vary between incompetent bully to capable and all for less salary than, for example, my train-driving brother earns. It also surprises people to know how many academics are on fixed term or zero-hour contracts. Furthermore, like most people in my department, before becoming an academic I worked in my profession, passed tests in professional competency besides my degrees and still do consultancy. And here is the kicker, one of my high school O-levels is in metalwork, so I have some training in being a blacksmith. So, in what way is my world not real?

… What a dry Academic thinks about it all is at the end of the day a bit erm, academic...

There is probably some truth in this, in that we are serious to the point of being forensically accurate when we are talking about our specialist subjects. In fact, the only other group who come as close are railway enthusiasts. We have all seen this amongst enthusiasts, that earnest, pedantic discussion that brooks no inaccuracy.

Here is something to consider. What people are missing is why academics are studying railway enthusiasm. The heritage railway movement is a phenomenon. The paper leading this discussion is typical of a wedge I have for my research and what the papers identify is that railway enthusiasm represents something astounding. For example, and initially identified by research, presumably everybody reading this will be aware that the heritage railway movement in Britain has the highest proportion of any sector using volunteer workforce? Second, and quite a distance behind, is the Church of England, while the rest are also rans. As I say, a phenomenon worthy of serious study.

Yes, this studying does probably come across as humourless. In contrast to a wider society that tends to disparage or trivialise railway enthusiasm as ‘puffer nutters’, academic study is taking the enthusiasm seriously. Of course, it helps that quite a few of us are also railway enthusiasts with first-hand experience … besides myself, in his spare time one of my research mentors shovels coal for a heritage railway. And our research makes a difference … academic research informs policymaking. We are ‘the experts’ and sometimes experts are in fashion.

… I think there would be a very useful research project that could be done, to show the importance of Heritage Railways in providing the social setting, to enhance the mental and physical well being of the volunteers......The savings to the NHS/social care system would probably fund many Railways!

Done by Rhoden et al (2009) looking at heritage railways volunteer motivation, who concluded that most volunteers have tremendous altruistic motivations, and Wallace (2006), who noted the togetherness amongst volunteers. Volunteers are the best of people!

Could the same academia arguments therefore be used against Beamish or Black Country museums?

Fundamentally, yes. In fact, Stratton (2000) goes so far to call them a discredited concept. This is where I come in, because my research suggests Stratton’s comments represent an out of date perception. The issue is authenticity, which most railway enthusiasts will recognise in the context of locomotives. A recent article in Steam Railway about the possible main line running restoration of Green Arrow went to the heart of the dilemma, in that in creating a working railway how much historic fabric do we lose? Comments by Chris Price, the North York Moors general manager, concerning creating a railway that attracts fare paying passengers seems to touch a raw nerve because, essentially, it is saying the unsayable truth. Some academic research defines heritage railways as linear theme parks. Now, before you bristle, how can a heritage railway convey the reality of, for example, shunting a dingy yard in the small hours of a filthy December night? It is not all about Flying Scotsman, so who are we trying to fool?

My research is heritage railway buildings, for which I am using signal boxes as an exemplar. Accepted rules of building conservation date from the 19th Century writings of such people as Pugin, “… [railway buildings] … unworthy of the attentions of an architect”, or Ruskin, “ornament such [railway] buildings as we may, their debasement of soul will always filter through”. To them, heritage buildings were great works of architecture that we preserve according to carefully proscribed rules, hence Stratton’s comment.

However, for the last 25 years several people are questioning this rigid way of thinking and it is my turn to have a crack. Later this year I am presenting a major research thesis on the subject, for which this paper, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17567505.2020.1726042, is setting the scene. I suspect people may, potentially justifiably, quibble about the quadrants in which I place the buildings, yet the overall idea that in conserving heritage railway buildings it is better to ignore the 19th Century rules and instead allow the reality of everybody viewing a specific building from their experience and knowledge. This has a tremendous advantage compared with conventional perception of building conservation, heavily influence by the expertise of building conservationists. It is also a risk, as we are including the non-experts as equally valid stakeholders in the conservation process, recognising that each group will bring distinct aspects of knowledge and experience to conservation decisions.

Now, everybody reading this will have their take and may even question the process. This is good. I want the debate, because you need to remember that academic research informs policymaking. What is happening is that I am rewriting the rules of building conservation, or at least as the rules apply to heritage railway buildings. Ultimately I am providing an intellectual basis for interpretation, that “living history experience”. If that eases the way next time a heritage railway seeks planning permission or lottery funding, then I will be content.
 

Flying Phil

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Many thanks EveningStar for providing a very well rounded response to the various points raised in this thread. I suspect we are always a bit defensive of our "passion that dare not mention it's name"! Although we do seem to be getting a better press/TV image recently....
 
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