A 134-year-old preserved railway line in Yorkshire has used 21st-century technology to help reduce its electricity bills and safeguard its future.

Like many businesses, in spring next year, the award-winning Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway in Yorkshire is faced with a huge increase in its electricity bill. On current estimates, it is anticipated that its electricity bills could treble from £30,000 to £90,000 a year.

To help ease the increase, the railway, which runs through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, called in Networx3 UAV to use a drone to carry out a survey of its engine sheds to see whether electricity-generating solar panels could be installed on the roof. That could mean the railway’s electricity bills would drop to zero.

Networx3 UAV used its £28,000 Matrice 210 V2 RTK to carry out a comprehensive bird’s eye survey. The drone provides broadcast-quality video using thermal imaging and high-definition cameras that can pick up an image the size of a postage stamp from a kilometre away. In less than an hour, it was confirmed that the solar panel project was a viable proposition. Plans are now underway for green energy experts Squirrel Energy to install over 1,000 solar panels on the engine shed roofs later this year, once some routine maintenance has been done.

Networx3 UAV managing director and commercial drone pilot Ian Ashworth said: “Our crystal clear ‘eye in the sky’ drone footage has meant there’s no need for scaffolding and cherry pickers to access the roofs and survey them – that’s a big saving in terms of time and cost. Drones can get to places which are awkward, inaccessible and expensive to reach and beam back live video of what they find to our state-of-the-art mobile drone control centre vehicle allowing clients to direct the flight in real time.”

Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway Managing director David Heys said: “We were able to give a definitive answer of yes to the solar panels on the roof thanks to the Networx3 UAV drone.

“We managed to do a comprehensive survey in under an hour – something that would have usually taken a couple of days with a visual inspection by a surveyor clipped to a cherry picker working at height and all the safety risks that come with that.

“The service that Networx3 UAV provided was fantastic, saving time and money for everyone.”

Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway director Malcolm Harrison said: “We have all this roof space and so it’s an opportunity for us to reduce our carbon footprint at a time when our energy costs are about to go through the roof as well.

“We have no end of things we can spend the money we save on including carriage refurbishment and an upgrade on our mess room.

“Using the drone was modern technology meeting old fashioned steam transport.”