Heritage railwey

A heritage railwey is a railwey operated as livin history tae re-create or preserve railwey scenes o the past. Heritage railweys are often old railwey lines preserved in a state depictin a period (or periods) in the history o rail transport.

Black steam locomotive
A tank ingine takes on watter through a watter crane at the Bishops Lydeard station o the West Somerset Railway

Infrastructure eedit

Heritage railwey lines have historic rail infrastructure which has been substituted (or made obsolete) in modern rail systems. Historical installations, such as hand-operated points, watter cranes, an rails fixed with historic rail fastenings are characteristic features o heritage lines. Unlike tourist railweys, which primarily carry tourists an have modern installations an vehicles, heritage-line infrastructure creates views and soundscapes o the past in operation.

Operation eedit

Due tae a lack o modern technology or the desire for historical accuracy, railwey operations can be handled with traditional practices such as the use o tokens. Heritage infrastructure an operations often require the assignment o roles, based on historical occupations, tae the railwey staff. Station masters an signalmen, sometimes wearin period-appropriate attire, can be seen on some heritage railweys. Most heritage railweys use heritage rollin stock, although modern rail vehicles can be used to showcase railwey scenes with historical-line infrastructure.

Cost eedit

While some heritage railweys are profitable tourist attractions, many are not-for-profit entities. Some o the latter depend on enthusiastic volunteers for upkeep an operations tae supplement revenue from traffic an visitors. Still other heritage railweys offer a viable public transport option, an can maintain operations with revenue from regular riders or govrenment subsidies.