Farmer calls for summer steam train ban after fires

A line-side fire broke out on farmland at Kimberley, near Wymondham, on Bank Holiday Monday

A farmer has called for a ban on steam railway trips in hot weather after a series of fires on his fields near the tracks.

William Edwards, 55, said he had dealt with a number of line-side blazes at his farm at Hardingham, near Wymondham, in Norfolk.

He said in the latest incident on Bank Holiday Monday, a solar farm and thousands of pigs would have been at risk had there not been a swift fire service response.

The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR), which runs on 11 miles (17.7km) of track between Dereham and Wymondham, said it had launched an internal review and took the matter "extremely seriously".

William Edwards said most of the fires had happened on the same small stretch of land

Mr Edwards said the line - which carries both steam and diesel locomotives and is part of the longest standard gauge heritage railway in East Anglia - ran across 3.1 miles (5km) of his mainly arable farm.

He said problems had mostly occurred on the same small stretch of land near a rail crossing at Kimberley.

Firefighters managed to stop Monday's blaze spreading across the whole field, he said.

It was the latest in a series of fires over the past nine years, according to Mr Edwards.

"If there's a period of dry weather, they shouldn't run the steam train," he said.

"With increasing environmental changes in weather patterns, it will get worse and worse.

"This was a comparatively small fire - we've had fires with three engines out before and the real risk is the whole field goes up together with the houses in the distance."

Mr Edwards said it was close to fields used for breeding pigs and a solar farm.

He believed the fires could be started when train whistles were blown at the crossing, causing embers to drift off from the coal-fired locos.

Scorched earth next to the track

The volunteer-run MNR is led by a charitable trust.

Samantha Taylor, general manager of the MNR preservation trust, said it was aware of Monday's fire and had worked closely with the fire service to review procedures, adding it was looking into taking additional precautions.

"We take this matter extremely seriously and are fully aware of the potential risk that such incidents pose," she said.

"This summer has been exceptionally dry, and in such conditions, fires can unfortunately start from a range of sources.

"As a heritage railway operating steam locomotives through rural areas, we recognise the increased risk of fire during prolonged dry weather."

Ms Taylor said fire mitigation measures were in place.

The heritage railway runs between Dereham and Wymondham

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service's head of prevention, Emyr Gough, said: "In the past, we have advised operators to consider using diesel rather than coal-fired engines as this reduces the risk of accidental fires to embankments.

"We do attend more of these types of incidents in the hotter weather due to the tinder-dry nature of grass embankments."