loud booing ok ok listen crowd jeers hold up listen I have a point to make jeers die off with some hesitation
Trains
crowd erupts into cheers and applause
The U.K. genuinely has some of the best historic preservation of railways in the entire world. Just take a look at this Wikipedia list of heritage railways! Heritage lines are dotted all over the country but that isn't even the best part, which is the British love of little trains :comfy:. There are little railways everywhere. Every seaside town seems to have some sort of miniature railway, and little railways dot the countryside. Look at this list! And better yet, because the railways are so ubiquitous, many young people are becoming involved in the railways and continuing on the grand tradition.
In conclusion, while the mainline network may be run by a bunch of capitalist vultures, the little railways of Britain provide a wonderful opportunity to see a full-sized adult comically operate a tiny train.
crowd chants "ti-ny-train! ti-ny-train!"
crowd erupts into thunderous applause
One other thing of note: Don't think for a second that these programs weren't helped along by the UK's history of imperialism. Preservation costs money, and much of that money comes from the imperialist interests that control that country. Historic preservation isn't possible to the same extent in over-exploited countries. What I am praising here is what the money has been spent on and the volunteer work that goes into preservation.
Another interesting thing is that the highly effective preservation is likely due to nationalization.
Thry had a top-down drop-dead date for steam, so preservation efforts knew it was now or never. The spotty retirement of steam in the US meant people weren't putting away stuff until it was too late. There were hundreds of PRR I-1 Decapods, until suddenly there weren't anymore. By the time preservation was top-of-mind, you ended up with a stilted selection of "what's left" and "hand-selected marquee engines that make for good PR tours"
The clear end date also created a huge glut of scrap locos which enabled the famous Barry Scrapyard experience. Effectively, they retired them faster than they could be cut up, and preservationists could exploit that to arrange purchases. Individual private operators dispensing out their fleets over a longer period wouldn't backlog as easily.
Oooo GOOD post