Heritage railways 'wouldn't be the same' without coal

The manager of two heritage railway lines in Wales has said steam engines should be exempt from any future ban on burning coal.

Paul Lewin, of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland heritage railways in Gwynedd, said a ban on coal burning would mean "bye bye steam railways".

He said: "There are no alternate fuels that make sense for heritage railways. It's the steam engines that draw people to them."

Mr Lewin said he wants "water-tight" exemptions written into the legislation, but Conservative peer, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist said heritage vehicles were not within the scope of the legislation.

6 July 2021