Back to Main Line Steam!

Not everyone gets to celebrate their 21^stbirthday on a Castle Class engine in full steam. 

I’m afraid I rather took it for granted, having been raised in a family dedicated to steam preservation. 

That doesn’t mean to say I didn’t enjoy every minute of it – and I drove that steam engine that night too – and, yes, I did have a reserve dress to change into for the dancing section later.

Steam engines are in my blood. My father, Patrick Whitehouse, was at the forefront of steam preservation in the 1960s-90s and together with a committed band of railway preservationists, he set up the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley in Birmingham. I was always a horsey kind of child but I gave in, as the years went on, and accepted that the Iron Horse was a part of my destiny.

As a family, we travelled around the world visiting the last steam engines, photographing and chronicling them. My mother once said she knew every ladies waiting room in Europe! Certainly there was more time spent on steam trains than on beaches and we all took the most memorable of trips on the old Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul when I was 14. Of course, the most exciting thing I can remember about that was being chatted up by a suave Frenchman in the dining car – he was sent packing by my Dad very swiftly...

Most of my summers in my late 20s and early 30s were spent with my Dad travelling the railways of China – way before the days that Coca Cola and McDonalds made it over there and, in 1988 I made a documentary for Channel 4 Manchuria Express about steam in China. You can still see it on YouTube. As well as having a fabulous time, I did pretty well out of that trip – I married the sound recordist, Henry Barley.

But that particular 21^stbirthday party, pictured, was held on one of the last steam engines to be decommissioned by British Rail in 1968, 7029 Clun Castle. I’m remembering it specifically today because today, it has been announced that the Office of Rail and Road has granted her – and several other engines – a licence to run scheduled express services across the main rail network.

My Dad is not alive now to see this; but my brother, Michael Whitehouse, has been at the forefront of the campaign by Vintage Trains. I’ve done basically nothing but bathe in reflected glory  – and pose for the odd photograph with my mother, Thelma Whitehouse, at Tyseley while Clun Castle was restored over the last few years.

Clun and her companions will run between Birmingham and Stratford to start with – at what may seem to be the somewhat sedate speed of 75 mph. They’ll stop at stations along the route allowing passengers to get on and off and we’ll have the choice of a basic ticket or a three-course meal in the restored Pullman dining car. But the plan is much bigger than that; Clun is in the market for running to York, Chester, Bristol and London.

It's less than a year since Clun has been back to her full glory after a costly and long renovation programme at Tyseley. I was honoured to be asked to bless her in public at the great party for her relaunch. 

A public share issue has raised £850,000 but the aim is to raise £3 million to expand the services across the rail networks.

Tyseley folk have a double celebration right now – this month the engine works turns 50 and there are special steam days on 29^thand 30^thof the month. You can find out more here.

There are not that many of us now who can remember the experience of being carried long distances by great, glowing dragons of fire and metal. My Dad used to say that a steam engine was the nearest thing humans had created to life – with the four great elements of metal, water, air and fire. And if you’ve ever stood in front of one of them while she snorted and steamed at you, you’ll certainly agree.

Here’s smut in your eye!