Biocoal project could give heritage steam trains greener future

'CHALLENGE' TO UPGRADE FUEL — BUT SCHEME HAS POTENTIAL TO POWER SMALLER LOCOMOTIVES

- By DALE SPRIDGEON

Liz Saville Roberts MP and Cllr Beca Roberts with Colin Keyse and Bob Gwynne At The Tynyclwt Continuity Biocoal Project

(PIC: LIZ SAVILLE ROBERTS OFFICE)

A PIONEERING initiative being developed in Gwynedd could help lead towards a greener future for some heritage steam railways and livestock farming.

MP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail Liz Saville Roberts visited Fferm Tynyclwt at Dyffryn Ogwen to meet Colin Keyse and see the Continuity Biocoal Project.

She went as part of Railway 200, a nationwide initiative marking the bicentenary of the birth of the modern railway.

The campaign not only honours the legacy of rail but also looks to its future and innovation, sustainability and developing skills in the sector.

The Biochar and Continuity Biocoal Project was developed in collaboration with partners in Wales and Ireland.

It uses biomass-based fuel - such as torrefied olive stones and wood - to emulate the traditional use of coal.

The Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP points to Welsh and Irish trials, which she says have demonstrated the fuel’s “potential viability” for smaller steam locomotives showing “promise” as a nutrient-and-carbon-fixing soil additive for agriculture .

This reduces animal manure emissions, runoff of excess nutrients into waterways and reliance on nitrogen-based fertilisers, she says.