Churnet Valley Railway adds diesel days after coal price rises

The attraction said timetabled services on three consecutive Saturdays would be hauled by heritage diesel locomotives

A heritage railway has scheduled diesel-only running days, as coal "is currently in scarce supply".

The Churnet Valley Railway near Leek in Staffordshire said timetabled services on Saturday and 11 and 25 June would be hauled by heritage diesel locomotives.

It would "for as long as possible" continue to run its steam locomotives.

In the last nine weeks the price of coal had risen 148% and it could not realistically pass an increase on to the public, the railway stated.

The tourist attraction was "introducing some diesel only running days which we will be reviewing on a monthly basis" going forward.

The war in Ukraine had prevented the Staffordshire attraction's "usual supply of coal being available from Russia", the site said.

Locomotive 47292 above may be used "once some planned maintenance has been committed"