A £75,000 grant from HS2's Community & Environment Fund will allow the Ruislip Lido Railway to convert one of its diesel locomotives to battery power.
Graham Alexander currently has a 4.5 litre engine and is part of six locomotives at the railway.
The conversion is part of the railway's drive to reduce noise pollution and remove CO2 costs.
Cathy Elliott, Independent Chair of the HS2 Funds, said: “I'm thrilled that HS2's Community and Environment Fund can play a pivotal role in ensuring that heritage features like the Ruislip Lido Railway can continue to serve the local community for decades to come.
“This is a unique and creative project which highlights the flexibility the HS2 Funding schemes can offer to a variety of organisations operating near to HS2's line of route. I would encourage organisations with creative project ideas, who are also impacted by the construction of HS2, to come forward and apply for funding.”
Matthew Thomas, a Member of Ruislip Lido Railway Society, said: “Graham Alexander is expected to re-enter operation later this year, hauling visitors around our unique Railway.
“A local organisation recommended we looked into a HS2 grant, we were pleasantly surprised with how simple and user friendly the application process was and would certainly encourage other organisations to take full advantage of this great scheme.
“We believe this project is likely to be the first narrow gauge railway in the UK to convert an existing diesel powered locomotive to an entirely renewable energy source The project will be a important test bed for improving the long-term direction of narrow-gauge railways diesel fleet renewals across the UK.
“We are immensely grateful to HS2 for their support and are really excited to be showing off a renewably powered Graham Alexander later this year.”
I am not against any grant aid towards any railway society, good luck to all. But I do have an issue with HS2 giving away any amount of money ,let alone this one, the mounting cost of this vanity project is lunacy, and it isn’t even now going to get to Euston!!!
Electricity prices are tied to gas prices basically because when the wind isn’t blowing well across the country, gas generates about 50-60% of UK electricity. It can be an even higher percentage in the winter time when electricity demand is higher, with over 20 gigawatts generated from gas.
Interesting that some commercial railway operators are scrapping their electric locomotives on cost grounds and are converting their deisel locomotives to run on biofuels.
Why electricity prices are tied to gas prices and are thus much higher here than in other countries is totally beyond me.
Such a shame they are removing the diesel engine for battery power. Personally I would keep it in its original configuration, it just won’t be the same. I am not a fan of renewable energy, perhaps it my age but I much prefer petrol and diesel power as they have a heart and a soul. Unfortunately any electric vehicle in whatever capacity has neither of these, sadly this is the world we live in these days.