A 200-year-old heritage railway has been forced to import coal 3,000 miles away from Kazakhstan ahead of the closure of Britain’s last coal mine.

       Bodmin and Wenford Railway has for years been using coal from Ffos-y-fran, an opencast coal mine in South Wales.

       The Welsh mine is the last existing source of British mined coal and the railway uses two tonnes of coal a day when fully operational.

       However, the mine is due to close within the next few months as coal is being phased out by the Government due to its effect on the environment.

       The heritage railway has now been forced to import lower-quality coal from Kazakhstan - some 3,100 miles away from Cornwall.

       Jimmy James, a spokesman for the railway, said: “At Bodmin we have just switched to coal from Kazakhstan, which is imported through the port of Immingham after a couple of thousand miles of travel across Europe.

       “It then reaches Bodmin by road, through yet more eco-unfriendly travel, and vastly increasing the cost.

       “We do not know how reliable the Kazakh source may prove to be, nor as yet how much we will be forced to raise our prices.

       “These are very testing times for our industry, and we have to roll with the punches.”

       Government dispensation secured

       Mr James said the Heritage Railway Association had recently secured dispensation from the Government for heritage railways to continue to use imported coal to stay in business, even though plenty of British coal remains in the ground.

       He added: “The Bodmin and Wenford Railway was once part of the Great Western Railway [GWR], which used high quality, less polluting Welsh steam coal to power its fleet of steam locos.

       “At Bodmin, the majority of our locos are ex GWR, thus purpose-built for the traditional Welsh variety.

       “Ffos-y-fran was primarily there to supply the steel works at Port Talbot and Aberthaw power station, and supplies to steam railways were just a small part of their business.

       “The logic of the steel industry having to import huge supplies of coal from around the world, and not using home resources, appears to be lost on the green lobby.”