Latest THE AVANTI GROUP news blog: Coal crisis in the Midlands

[martinecarmie]

Not long ago it would seem unthinkable...the Midlands
running out of coal. But that's exactly what's happening.

Heritage steam railways - which will attract thousands of
visitors this May Bank Holiday - are now struggling to find suitable coal
supplies in Britain.

To keep going, some are having to import coal from thousands
of miles away in Russia

This is despite the fact that the Midlands sits on millions
of tons of coal.

Steam railways need the right sort of coal. Locomotives can
be damaged if the fuel burns at the wrong temperature, or has too much sulphur
or ash content. Different fireboxes and boilers have different requirements.

Some railways had been using coal from the Daw Mill mine in
Warwickshire, but that has closed following a serious underground fire. Others
had used Scottish Coal, but their supplies have been hit by a financial crisis.
The situation was made worse by extra demand caused by the very cold winter.

Nevertheless heritage railway operators say it's ironic that
the Midlands has so much coal underground that is going unused.

Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham relied for years on
Daw Mill and has switched to coal from Wales. Commenting on the possibility of
importing coal from Russia, Bob Meanley from Tyseley says:

The whole thing is unbelievable really. When you think we
are almost in what used to be Warwickshire we are sat on millions of tons of
the stuff and we just can't get hold of it at the moment.

The Severn Valley Railway in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, has
topped up its supplies with Russian coal and has enough stockpiles to last
through the Bank Holiday and beyond - when many families are to ride behind the
line's historic steam engines.

We managed to secure about 150 tons of coal which will see
us through the next fortnight. And we are hoping the (latest) Russian shipment
will be in by then.

– IAN WALKER, WORKS MANAGER

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