The attraction of historic railways and transport structures is explained. The case of the Lithuanian narrow gauge railway that runs from Panevezys to Anyksciai and Rubicai is discussed. The total length of line is about 70 km long, a bit too far for the ideal tourist railway. The most picturesque length of the line runs between Anyksciai and Rubicai, where the terminus is alongside a lake, but that length of track is the most neglected and needs the most repair. Anyksciai station hosts a small railway museum nearby, built with the assistance of EU funds, but there is little or no hotel accommodation. The track between Anyksciai and Panevezys is 56 km long and is the less visually interesting part of the line but the maintenance facilities are to be found at Panevezys, the main centre of population locally. Panevezys was the centre of the manufacture of television tubes during Soviet times and on the collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union, the market fell from that demanded by a population of 248 million to that of 31/2 million. Needless to say there was high unemployment. The political initiative comes largely from Panevezys County whose Governor wishes to regenerate his domain. Anyksciai lies in a different county. Tourist and heritage railways have been used elsewhere as a tool to regenerate the economy of a region. In the UK, a branch line running north from Bury was reopened as a heritage railway under the initiative of a local authority, which obtained grants from the European Regional Development Fund to help finance it. It has been a huge success, attracting over 200,000 passengers a year. More importantly, the enthusiasm generated by this has led to the line being extended and doubled in length. The railway's workshops have taken on more staff as its facilities have tempted other heritage railways to bring their major locomotive overhauls to Bury because of the facilities and skills available. Similar success has attended the reopening of La Baie de la Somme railway near Crotoye in Northern France and the "Molli Bahn" near Rostock in East Germany. These formerly depressed areas have been revived by the injection of money spent by tourists travelling on the trains. What is more, these railways tend to defy the seasonal restrictions that so often attend other tourism ventures which are weather dependent. When the number of visitors fall during the winter months after Christmas, staff are usually redeployed to undertake restoration and maintenance tasks. The social aspects of preserved railways, their use as transport to other tourist attractions, and their role in the prevention of environmental degradation, are described. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Abstract