A steam engine restoration enthusiast who has been awarded a British Empire Medal has said seeing young people on one of his trains gives him “huge pleasure and pride”, despite the financial cost.
Peter Best, who has been awarded the BEM for his services to steam and heritage railways, has bought and restored 11 trains with his own money.
The 69-year-old is also a former chairman of North Yorkshire Moors Railway and has been involved in the restoration of British canals, including the recent successful Lottery Fund application on behalf of the Cotswold Canals.
Mr Best, who lives in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, said he has loved trains ever since he was a child.
“I started off as a nipper as a trainspotter, with a few breaks along the way for girls and beer and university and other things,” he told the PA news agency.
He bought his first train, a Garrett steam traction engine, in the 1980s.
Mr Best admitted that train restoration is an expensive hobby, with his last train, the Black 5 steam locomotive, costing around £600,000 to restore.
“I am definitely down on them all, but some of them are less bad than others,” he said.
However, Mr Best said the financial loss was worth it, for the joy it gives other people.
“I hope the award is because I’m quite open about wanting other people to enjoy my engines and seeing them operate, and I make them available to people so they can see and enjoy them,” he said.
A widower, as well as a father and grandfather, Mr Best is cagey about whether he will do another another restoration now that he is retired.
“I have said I won’t do another one but you never know,” he said.
“I’m helping the North Yorkshire Moors with a couple of projects at the moment, but I think this year is all about enjoying the engines that are going and see where we are at the beginning of next year.”
Asked why steam engines appealed to him, Mr Best said he was drawn to their noise, smell, and “raw energy”.
“When all is said and done it’s a large kettle on wheels, using wood or coal and boiling water to provide the power,” he said.
“But it’s the noise, it’s the smell, it’s the raw energy that the steam engine creates.”
Mr Best also said he loved seeing young people enjoying his trains.
“It gives me huge pleasure and pride,” he said.
“I do honestly feel that I’m doing a good job as a custodian to hand them on in a good condition to the next generation.”
Mr Best added: “I hope the honour is as much for all the volunteers looking after heritage railways, and my locomotives, as it is for me, who has been lucky enough to restore them and operate them.”
