The National Transport Trust Green Wheel Scheme

All members and supporters of the National Transport Trust have one thing in common: a shared interest in historic transport. Sometimes this interest is limited to one sphere but generally most people profess a knowledge of or interest in more than one. Many of the best-known names in railway photography, for example, also regularly took pictures of paddle steamers and ocean liners.

There is another overarching element to the vast majority of transport subjects: a reliance upon some form of carbon – be it coal- or oil-based – for propulsion. Over the past 40 years there has been a growing awareness of the negative impact of carbon emissions and the environment. The impact of transport preservation on overall is limited but it can be highly visual and can perhaps even be perceived as prejudicial to a lot of what the heritage sector is trying to achieve.

The link between vehicle emissions and pollution is not new. In the early 1960s, for example, when Bradford Corporation was considering the wholesale redevelopment of the city centre there was a long debate about the consequences for the city’s large trolleybus network, which had undergone considerable expansion in the 1950s under the auspices of the then general manager, C. T. Humpidge. For the proponents of trolleybus retention, it was noted that electrically-powered vehicles could not cause pollution at the point of delivery of service – there was no real debate at this time about the pollution caused by power generation (including from the erstwhile corporation-owned power station on Valley Road to the north of the city centre) – but that diesel buses did cause pollution, even if this could be minimised by rigorous standards of maintenance. The City Engineer’s Department, which was overseeing the overall redevelopment plan, made the assumption that the trolleybuses would be retained and thus phased the work in such a way that the overhead could be relocated to ensure the services were retained. In the event, however, a change of management – Humpidge (nicknamed the ‘Apostle of the Trolleybus’) took over as general manager at Sheffield in 1961 and his successor in Bradford (J. C. Wake, formerly general manager at St Helens where he had overseen the conversion of that town’s trolleybus system to bus operation) was antipathetic towards electric traction – resulted in the decision to convert in Bradford. Although Wake was only to remain in Bradford for just over a year – he took over at Nottingham in late 1962 (where the city’s trolleybuses disappeared over the next four years) – the damage had been down to the pro-trolleybus lobby but it took a further decade – until March 1972 – to see the last trolleybuses in operation.

The environment in which the Bradford debate took place was a very different one to the one that we face today. The city’s dark satanic mills were still belching vast quantities of smoke, for example, and the primary means of heating most houses was still the coal fire. There was a realisation, however, that the quality of air, particularly in urban areas (where dense smog was still a potential and deadly risk), needed to be improved. Over subsequent years the situation improved. The Clean Air Acts, the increased use of gas for heating and cooking, the decline of Britain’s traditional industries and improved efficiency in the internal combustion engine all, inter alia, contributed to cleaner air and made urban living more attractive.

Society still produces vast quantities of greenhouse gases – they are, however, much less visible. Sadly, amongst the most conspicuous are the very forms of transport that have encouraged us to belong to or get involved with preservation and the National Transport Trust. Steam and diesel locomotives in use on preserved railways are vivid reminders of Britain’s heritage, for example, but they’re also very obvious contributors to pollution. In conversation with senior officers of a number of preserved lines, it is clear that there are an increasing number of negative comments – particularly from the young – about the pollution that the locomotives are causing (although their own contribution caused by the journey to and from the railway is happily ignored!). The fact that transport preservation contributes a very small percentage of the UK’s overall carbon pollution is irrelevant when it is so visibly obvious.

For some years the National Transport Trust has been exploring the possibility of creating a new Green Wheel scheme alongside the existing Red Wheels in order to encourage the best practice in trying to improve the sustainability of transport preservation. Indeed, there was a page devoted to the scheme on the NTT website. The NTT remains committed to trying to support an increased awareness of the issue of sustainability within the heritage movement and, to achieve this, it has been agreed to revise the Green Wheel scheme in order to simplify the procedure. As originally envisaged, the scheme anticipated the NTT working with projects through their development, monitoring progress and then awarding a Green Wheel based on various criteria from One Star to Five Star. It became evident to the trustees that, whilst this approach had great merit, it was beyond the NTT’s resources and skills to administer particularly as many of the proposed schemes were being undertaken over an extended period.

As a result the trustees have agreed a more straightforward and simplified. Rather than trying to work with projects as they are developed, the new Green Wheel scheme will – like the well-established Red Wheels – reward what is extant. There will be two levels for the awards, recognising that some small projects are well worth recognising but do no merit a physical Green Wheel; these schemes will be awarded a framed certificate. An example of this might be the explanatory panel on display at the Groudle Glen Railway on the Isle of Man, which explains in simple terms the amount of pollution the railway causes and how that is being offset. An example of the latter might be the solar panels that the Vale of Rheidol Railway has installed on the roof of its new museum at Aberystwyth; the building itself deserving merit as it is the creative reuse of the former GWR locomotive shed in the town.

Across the country there are a number of initiatives – both in industry and preservation – to try and reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles. For example, whilst this article website was being updated, information came forward that the miniature railway at Audley End had constructed a steam locomotive powered by electricity. As the railway’s website noted: ‘Our newest locomotive is a fully electric steam-outline locomotive, designed to look and sound like a traditional scale steam engine while running entirely on electricity. It even produces steam, preserving the nostalgic sights and sounds that generations of families associate with their visits to Audley End.’ The reasons for this development include a desire to reduce demission, to lower the railway’s environmental impact and to protect the surrounding forest. In industry, efforts are being made, for example, to introduce hydrogen power to railway shunters.

The NTT’s revised Green Wheel scheme is designed to reward these projects; if you are aware of one that deserves to be highlighted, make a nomination using the form below. The more we trumpet the positive work that the preservation movement is making on sustainability the better!

The sort of project that might merit a Green Wheel certificate: this poster displayed by the Groudle Glen Railway on the Isle of Man tackles squarely the impact that the railway has on the environment and how the consequences are being mitigated. Education is an essential means by which visitors can be made aware of the issues that transport preservation faces when dealing with climate change. Peter Waller

In order to gain a Green Wheel under the National Transport Trust’s revised scheme, a project must demonstrate a major commitment to environmental awareness. The new railway museum opened by the Vale of Rheidol Railway has seen the conversion of the former Great Western Railway engine shed at Aberystwyth. As can be seen in this view taken in August 2025, the opportunity has been taken to fit solar panels to the roof; this have been fitted discreetly and have no serious impact on the visual appeal of the building. Peter Waller