Energy and Transport: How the Railways Moved From Freight to Passengers

When the railways were first built, they were conceived as a method of carrying goods efficiently from one place to another, and passengers were something of an afterthought. The opposite is now true: most people think first of passenger trains and freight has often seemed the "poor relation" (for example, freight-only routes are usually designated "secondary" with a lower standard of maintenance and investment than high speed passenger routes such as the East Coast Mainline). 

While freight continues to be a vital part of the rail network (and estimated to grow by 30% over the next 5 years), what and how materials are transported are a world away from the original design. This can be illustrated by the small goods depot at Poppleton station, which I photographed on my way home. Under the original model, railways were statutorily required to accept any and all goods at all stations to any destination, whether a crate of chickens or milk churns going to market or coal to factories, homes or local "town gas" plants/power stations. 

All that changed when energy started being supplied differently: rather than having a power station for every town, we now distribute electricity via pylons and the National Grid from a few large power stations miles away.
Natural gas for heating and cooking is also piped directly to homes, with no need now for local coal depots at every station to bring you your fuel in bags on the back of a cart. Rather than being transported from coal mines up and down the country to a wide range of factories and homes, coal is now only transported by train from ports such as Immingham and Heysham directly to the power stations (like Drax, Cottam and West Burton) or from the few remaining UK coal mines.   

The former goods yard at Poppleton Station, now being turned into an extension of the Railway Nursery with space for composting and gardening

Poppleton station, made beautiful by the
work of Poppleton Railway Nursery

Many stations have changed their former goods yards into car parks. In the case of Poppleton, the goods yard is soon to become an extension of another piece of railway history: the last surviving railway nursery in the country. This was operational up to the 1990s, supplying plants to stations around the London North East region but following privatisation the nursery was abandoned. Jarvis used the space as a maintenance yard until 2006, when a community group invested in the nursery and now operate it as a social enterprise. The nursery now provides plants again for stations around the York area (the flower beds at Poppleton make me smile every morning, especially as all the spring bulbs have come up!) There are regular open days and plant sales to the general public, and volunteers from all walks of life help to grow the plants. One key part of the nursery's activities is its partnership with the NHS, providing a safe space and therapy through horticultural skills and being connected to the natural world for people recovering from mental health crises. Paul Botting, NHS Technical Instructor, said, 

"The NHS trust needed additional dedicated space to consolidate on one site and to expand its nursery training operation. Our partnership with PCRN is absolutely ideal." 

Now there's an innovative use of an old freight depot!
See also:

• Poppleton Community Railway Nursery
• Ecotherapy launch event - Drop in to St Nicks Fields in York on 27th April for activities looking at how gardening can support mental health recovery
• Getting Transport Policy Right: Why the Harrogate Line needs an upgrade