Ask anyone who spent time on a heritage railway thirty years ago and they'll tell you the same thing. Saturdays were packed. You could barely move for volunteers. The platforms, the workshops, the engine sheds — full of people giving their weekends to keep steam alive.
Today, heritage railway volunteering in the UK looks different. The demographics have shifted. The old guard is fading. And across the preservation world, a quiet anxiety has been growing about what comes next.
But spend an evening with Simon Bending, Director of the East Somerset Railway, and that anxiety starts to look a lot like opportunity.
A World That Has Changed
I met Simon on a wet and windy Monday evening. The engines were long shut down for the night and the last passengers had drifted home, leaving the station in a rare quiet. Only the platform lights remained, casting a soft glow across a line of MK1 carriages waiting patiently for the next day's work.
Inside the ticket office, the atmosphere shifted from cold to cosy. Simon caught up on paperwork in the back office while I asked him something I'd been noticing across the heritage world — the quieter Saturdays, the smaller crews, the sense that something had changed.
His answer was direct.
"You have to be far more flexible now when it comes to attracting volunteers," he said. "The whole world of heritage rail has changed. Years ago many smaller lines were essentially old men's clubs and that generation of volunteers is no longer around. The landscape has shifted. You are not just a railway anymore — you are a visitor attraction, and the sort of people you need to make it run are very different from the people who were here thirty years ago."
Who the New Volunteers Are
The picture Simon paints of modern heritage railway volunteering in the UK is not one of decline — it's one of transformation.
Today's volunteers are younger. They have careers. They have families. They come to a heritage railway not necessarily because they love locomotives, but because they love their community, enjoy public-facing roles, or simply want to do something useful with their time.
"Some are interested in their community, some love public facing roles, some are into retail and some into engineering," Simon explained. "Not specifically railway engineering — just engineering. And you want them all."
The implication is significant. Heritage railways that are still recruiting exclusively for footplate crew and workshop engineers are fishing in a shrinking pool. Those willing to think differently — to recruit shop staff, carpenters, electricians, accountants, teachers — are finding volunteers where others aren't looking.
"When you are looking for volunteers you need to go to places you might not have gone before," Simon said. "I have been talking to youth groups, scouts, cadets — anywhere you might find younger volunteers. We have done a huge amount with the local schools in the last two years, bringing kids in for education visits, often for free or for very little money. Those kids are your future volunteers — and of course those kids have parents as well."
The Skills Question
One of the most persistent fears around heritage railway volunteering in the UK is the loss of specialist skills. The older generation carries knowledge — of steam mechanics, of footplate craft, of workshop techniques — that took decades to accumulate. When they go, does that knowledge go with them?
Simon is unequivocal.
"That absolutely does not worry me. Not here, at least, because we are very good at training people ourselves. If you look at our footplate crew and our engineering team, a lot of them are young. They started here as kids and were trained by our own people."
The East Somerset Railway operates commercially on its carriages as well as running heritage services — a dual model that allows proper apprenticeships and structured training rather than ad hoc knowledge transfer. Skills aren't being lost. They're being deliberately passed on.
"We do a lot of heavy engineering here, which is rare for people to get an experience of — and they enjoy that," Simon said. "We are also fortunate because we operate commercially on the carriages as well. That means we can train people properly through apprenticeships and bring those skills back into the volunteer side too."
The Financial Reality
Any honest conversation about heritage railway volunteering in the UK has to confront money. And Simon doesn't shy away from it.
Many railways grew dependent on paid staff during a period when that model worked. It no longer does. Rising employment costs — accelerated sharply by recent National Insurance changes which hit part-time staff particularly hard — have forced redundancies at some of the most prominent lines in Britain.
"You are seeing redundancies at places like NYMR, Severn Valley, Swanage and others," Simon noted. "The problem is the jobs haven't gone — they just can't afford to pay people to do them. So they now need volunteers, which puts more pressure on volunteer recruitment."
The lines that relied most heavily on paid staff are now scrambling to build volunteer pipelines they never needed before. It's a painful transition — but Simon believes it's survivable, provided railways are willing to fundamentally rethink how they operate.
"The medium-sized railways still relying purely on the farebox are all losing money," he said. "You simply cannot survive just by selling train tickets — not even with volunteers. You have to operate as a tourist attraction, and that means appealing far beyond enthusiasts."
Reason for Optimism
It would be easy to read all of this as a crisis. Simon doesn't see it that way.
At the East Somerset Railway, volunteer numbers are not declining. New people are coming through — younger, more diverse, less railway-obsessed than their predecessors but no less committed. The railway has volunteers with complex support needs. It has teachers running the shop. It has retired professionals doing infrastructure work two days a week because they want to build something with their hands.
"I don't see a decline over time," Simon said. "Certainly not here. We've got plenty of young people coming through. Kids still want to do this kind of thing — and if you get them interested early, that's what matters most."
His parting advice to the wider heritage railway community is worth quoting in full.
"Tell people what roles actually exist. Most people have no idea. When they think of volunteering on a heritage railway, they picture drivers, firemen, guards and engineers. But we also need shop staff, cleaners, carpenters, electricians, accountants, fundraisers. Those are roles people do not naturally think about — and those are the ones you have to put effort into promoting."
Spending an evening with Simon made one thing clear. The story of heritage railway volunteering in the UK isn't one of inevitable decline. It's one of necessary change. The railways willing to adapt — to recruit differently, train deliberately, and think of themselves as visitor attractions rather than enthusiast clubs — are finding that the next generation is out there, ready and willing.
At the East Somerset Railway, they already are. And for anyone who cares about the future of steam, that's a reason to feel genuinely hopeful.
Want to Volunteer at the East Somerset Railway?
The ESR is located in the village of Cranmore, just off the A361 — 3 miles from Shepton Mallet and 6 miles from Frome. Postcode: BA4 4QP.
To find out about volunteering opportunities contact them at: volunteers@eastsomersetrailway.com
Discover more of Britain's remarkable railway stories — including our visit to the [Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway], one of the most extraordinary pieces of Victorian engineering still running today
Whistle & Wander covers the stories, people and railways that make Britain's heritage rail world come alive — told by the people living it. Try Issue Zero for free.
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