Great Rail Tales

Train enthusiast Tiegan talks about the impact the Intercity Express Trains (IET), specifically Trainbow 800 008 operated by Great Western Railway, has had on their life.  Tiegan’s enthusiasm for the pride trains has resulted in nearly 200 journeys on trainbow, an album, artwork and even a full tattoo sleeve inspired by the train set.  For Tiegan seeing a pride train has significantly impacted on...

Dr James Fowler, a business history lecturer at Essex University, discusses the little explored inter-relationship between the railways and energy networks like the national grid.  Before the national grid the railways were essential for delivering Britain’s domestic energy supply through transporting coal to every household in the land.  Then, in 1963, the arrival of the national grid, which coin...

Sally Jones, an art teacher at East Riding College, talks about how her students have been inspired by Railway 200 to bring art deco into the 21st century using contemporary design techniques to re-imagine classic railway poster art in celebration of the railway in Beverley and Sheffield.  As well as providing a colourful talking point and beautiful designs for the station walls, the resulting pos...

Karen Bennett, Education Team Leader at Community Rail Lancashire, shares the story of “200 stories of railway pride”, an anthology of 200 stories celebrating how inclusive the rail network is when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community.  Karen’s passion for working on the railways is infectious and her story shares her joy and genuine pride at the inclusivity of working in rail where she can be herself...

Historian Dr Alexander Medcalf reflects on the inter-war years, a period when expectations of what travel by train could provide rose in line with the sleek marketing and glossy poster campaigns which served up beautiful, luxurious images of travel.  We might reflect on the era as the golden era of train travel in the UK but behind the glossy images Alexander Medcalf reveals the moans and complain...

Leabrooks Central is a unique, homebuilt replica railway station in Richard’s back garden. The idea came after Richard bought his partner Katherine a model of a 3F Jinty steam train she used to ride on during her childhood. This led to building a track for it roll on and a station for it to halt in. The build grew and grew. Their creation, which they have named "Leabrooks Central" has been adorned...

Bill shares the history and stories of the unique role of the British Transport Police.  Created in  September 1825 as a means to maintain law and order among some of the wilder elements of the navvies who built the railway, the transport police have enjoyed a colourful and important history, intricately interwoven with the evolution of the railways and the people who journey on them.  In the firs...

In the early morning of 22nd May 1915 a troop train carrying the 7th Battalion of The Royal Scots left Larbet for Liverpool.  At Quintinshill, just north of Gretna, a local passenger train had been left on the mainline to allow a following express train to overtake it. It would normally have been held in a loop. The troop train barrelled into it and derailed onto the northbound line. Where a minut...

Mark Gardner from mental health charity Darlington Mind talks about how they’ve been inspired by Railway 200 to come up with a creative project where their clients and local art groups paint iconic local locomotives.  Taking inspiration from the likes of Locomotion No. 1, The Mallard brick train sculpture and The Derwent, among others, the project has seen the paintings spread out across the town,...

As a young boy Rufus found happiness travelling by rail. He watched and learnt from his mother who was studying for a MA about how the development of the railway started to impact the development of society. It led to the mass migration of people, the redesign of housing layout as places like Liverpool Street station enabled a much more mobile population. As a rail industry leader today, he reflec...

Louise was a single mum trying to work out how to put her girls through higher education when she applied to join the railway as a guard. She landed in a very male dominated world and faced prejudices form the outset. Despite this, her career blossomed, and she started to drive for change for women in rail, changing places, polices and people along the way. Her career in rail has taken her from Hu...

Railway restorer, heritage enthusiast and You Tuber Lawrie Rose describes how he found connection with like-minded railway volunteers on a trip to New Zealand’s South Island.

Steve Melia describes the joy and sense of discovery he finds when he uses the railway as part of his walks. Starting from one station his walks aren’t defined by looping back to the beginning to find the car, but instead but exploring which stations can be linked up and finding new routes that interconnect around the network. Both urban and rural railwalks open up the environment around us in a c...

From making souffles at over 70 mph to collecting fresh langoustines from the pier at Mallaig, Chef Neil Forbes launched his career (and found love) in the galley of The Royal Scotsman. Fine dining on the rails creates a unique set of challenges for any chef, from sourcing their ingredients from producers and fishermen along the line to having an in-depth knowledge of where all the station bins ar...

David Mochan, secretary of the 6VT Community Rail Partnership in Edinburgh describes some of the work of the country’s only youth led CRP

Caroline describes the moment she fell in love with steam trains. Her first and lifelong love for the railway began in Swanage. Today she still feels the same joy when she rides on board a steam train as she did as a young woman, a deep connection that goes to the heart of her soul. 

Georgie’s passion for the railway began in 2017 in Walton on the Naze when she first saw the Tornado 60163 steam train.  It was, quite literally, love at first sight and has led Georgie on adventures she never expected to be taking.  For Georgie her past, present and future feel inextricably wound round the railway network and trains she loves so much.

The first railway chemical laboratory was opened in 1864 by the London & North Western Railway at Crewe, and the last ones lost their direct link to the rail industry when it was privatised in 1996. Whatever their expertise, every railway chemist or ‘stink’ has been asked the same question: “What do you actually do”? In this episode, stinkers David Smith, Ian McEwean, John Sheldon and Ian Cott...

Songwriter, record producer and publisher, Pete Waterman is also an avid train enthusiast, sharing an interest in model railways with Jools Holland and Rod Stewart. Before a career in music Pete worked for BR, but it was watching the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral following the war that sparked his love of model railway building. Today he holds the world record for the biggest mobile model railw...

The railway isn’t just in Phil Hibberd’s blood; it’s in his DNA. The son of a railway engineer and a railway wages clerk who met at the local Railway Social Club, his ancestry in the railway industry can be traced back to the mid 19th Century. It was in retirement that his father, Derek Hibberd, started to trace the family heritage. Finding links to the railway in Bombay and across the UK, one of...

An accident on the track early in his railway career led Chris Leech to develop the first  community education programme to reduce route crime on the rail network. The Track-Off campaign led to a 54% reduction in youth route crime across the UK. Today he works with the Rebuilding Futures Alliance supporting people with previous convictions turn their lives around through training and employment in...

Senior curator at the National Railway Museum and Locomotion in Shildon, Anthony Coulls describes how the growth of the railway started to change human society, our diet, the economy, the concept of time, migration, the look of landscape and our national obsession with speed. Find out more about major moments in the history of the railway on our timeline: https://railway200.co.uk/timeline/

Travel writer Monisha Rajesh describes her love of literally watching the world go by through the carriage window and how she watches and listens to people as she travels the world by rail on her life-affirming adventures.

Curator of the Railway Futures Gallery at the National Railway Museum, Rob curated the ‘Railway Firsts’ carriage that forms part of Inspiration, the mobile exhibition train, that is touring Britain as part of the Railway 200 celebrations. The carriage celebrates the pioneering pedigree and innovation of the railway, while also highlighting landmark moments in the development of the railway.

Head of research at the National Railway Museum, Dr. Oli Betts describes how the railway’s rapid expansion in the United Kingdom started to change the cultural fabric of Victorian society, opening up huge opportunities. People started to commute and holiday by train. The rail network helped to connect the country. This expansion and connection caught the eyes of investors and engineers from around...