The reason for my interest in this matter is a comparison with the Church of England and its culture. There are a number of warnings we might want to heed as we think about the way in which the church might change in the future.
1. British Rail made steam locomotives for far too long (until 1960). Given that all steam locomotives had been withdrawn by 1968, and one could expect at least 20 years of service from a locomotive, this was most obviously a waste of resources. Undue panic change was unduly quick: why were the new locomotives not left in service until 1980 when they would have naturally retired? Some locomotives have done more years on preservation lines since restoration than they did in BR service.
The danger for the church is that it continues to invest in things when they are out of date, and then changes tactics so quickly that it wastes the previous investment. Long term planning is key for the church: invest wisely for a number of decades. This means dealing with paradigm shifts rather than perfecting the current paradigm (both the end of steam and the shift to electric, and the shift in photography from film to digital, show how being the best at the moment does not protect you against the future without strategic planning).
Doing the old fashioned things well still matters, and we should not abandon traditional worship too quickly, but we have also to realise that good choral evensong is likely to be confined to an ever diminishing market. We therefore also need to move over into forms of worship and church life that are more adapted to a post-1960s world.
2. We should beware of closing and withdrawing simply because something is not working now. The rationalisation of the rail system may have been necessary in some places due to the decline of certain industries, but the whole scale cutting back of lines and goods facilities was far too short term in its vision for the future. Some of the lines may have needed to close, but others could now brining greater capacity to an overcrowded commuter system. We should therefore beware of being over hasty about saying that some of our church buildings should be closed: they may be the places in which a very different form of church life could thrive and make a real impact.
3. We have a real challenge of dealing with romanticism. Our notions of what the steam age was like are conditioned by going to tourist lines where immaculate locomotives create a Harry Potter like experience. Films of the mid-1960s demonstrate that the realities of steam traction on the mainline was not like this: dirty locomotives pour out ash and smoke into the air and on to passengers. Living with an unrealistic view of the past inhibits our ability to move on: the modern railway system will never be able to compete with the appeal of the preservation lines, but this is a distortion of reality as it is not a form of transport you could use for everyday.
The church needs to realise that romanticised versions of the 1480s, 1580s or 1880s distort our view of what the church really was like. Very rarely do we talk about the high levels of tithe and fees that built great churches or cathedrals, or the social coercion used to fill churches. This is also part of the picture that was Christendom.
4. Steam railway enthusiasm might be easily compared to enthusiasm for certain kinds of ways of life from the past: a love of the Book of Common Prayer or pews, for example. The problem is of course a long term one: these groups generally find it difficult to recruit after the generation for whom these things were of their childhood has died out. The matters then simply become something of an aesthetic preference: a matter of choice to differentiate oneself from a more popular product, or a hobby used to define who we are as a person. The appeal of such practices we can therefore expect to be specialised and the hobby of a minority.
There have been several comments in the press about the post-Brexit 'blue passport' and how this appeals to a certain generation over 50 years of age. The same is probably true of steam engines and much of the life of the Church of England. However, those who only have ever known a maroon passport, electric trains and pop culture may see very little in the Church of England that attracts them and allows them to engage with us.
The church therefore needs to understand the challenge ahead of it. We need to shift into another paradigm that works for today, but not so quickly that we alienate those who have chosen to make the Church of England their home. For clergy and churches this means a difficult course must be navigated over the next two decades if the church is to avoid the fate of many of the steam locomotives withdrawn in 1968: the scrapyard.
