Great Rail Tales

Rajinder Pryor – Women in Rail and Travels in India with Railway 200 Teddy

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When Rajinder Pryor joined the rail industry 20 years ago, she came through the Women in Rail mentoring programme. Today Rajinder leads that programme...

Jack Rhodes – an apprentice shaping the next chapter in rail’s revolutionary story

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jack Rhodes was shortlisted for Railway Apprentice of the Year at the end of his 3 year apprenticeship with Alstom, where he is now just starting his ...

Joe Smith – Time for analogue in a digital world

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Smith of Derby have been making public clocks around the UK and rest of the world since the 1850s. If you have sought the time from an analogue statio...

Linda Brinklow – Celebrating Railway 200 on the Isle of Sheppey

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As Linda Brinklow steps down from her role as Chair of the Swale Branch of the Kent Community Rail Partnership, she reflects on a huge year of rai...

Riku Fryderyk – Remembering Ian Marchant and a Railway of Dreams

04 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Inspired by Railway 200, YouTuber, Storyteller and documentary maker Riku has produced 2 films around key events and moments in the 200 year history o...

Richard Woods – Remembering the 150th anniversary of Rail

03 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

82-year-old Richard Woods was introduced to railway modelling when he was bought a Hornby OO as a young boy. This sparked a passion that took him to h...

Tim Dunn - a lifetime shaped by the metropolitan railway and expressed through Railway 200

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Rail historian and broadcaster Tim Dunn’s connection to the railways goes back to his grandpa who left Tim his many hundreds of railway books when h...

Joanne Ormesher – The Llangollen Firecracker

02 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As a young girl Joanne loved spending time with her grandfather in his model workshop. He called her his “firecracker”. He died when Joanne was 13...

John Simpson – From New York to Shildon

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

John Simpson grew up surrounded by and travelling on the New York subway. His passion for trains today is an evolution from his boyhood love of Thomas...

Bob Barton – Cheers! The pubs and refreshment rooms of the railway

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The original fast food came from compulsory comfort stops on the early rail network where trains would stop for a few minutes and passengers would jum...

Emma Roberts – Railway 200’s Programme Manager

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

  From the genesis of the idea in early 2022 Emma Roberts has lived and breathed Railway 200 every day since. Early hopes of 100 events across the ye...

Dr Mike Esbester and Gordon Churchill – Remembering Arthur Churchill and the Railway Orphanages

28 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mike and Gordon recall the role of the Railway Orphanages. The rail industry hasn’t always been the pioneers of safety they are today. In times gone...

Adrian Greenwood – Falling in love with the sound of trains

26 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sound recordist Adrian Greenwood discovered his combined love of trains and their sounds as a young boy standing on bridges watching freight trains pa...

Ian Lavery MP and Caroline Ball – World Cup Winner Ashington

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

  When Ashington Station reopened in December 2024, having been closed as part of the Beeching cuts, the impact of the railway on this north east tow...

Clare Wildfire – Great Great Great Grandaughter of rail pioneer Edward Pease

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Railway 200 has caused Clare Wildfire to reflect and reconnect with her ancestral legacy of industrialist Edward Pease, one of the leading lights in t...

Finlay Napier – Firecracker on 21st Century Folk

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Folk singer songwriter Findlay Napier recalls writing “Firecracker”, a song he wrote about Joanne Ormesher as part of BBC Radio 2’s 21st Century...

Steve Williams – A journey like no other

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Driver and Permanent Way operative Steve Williams drives a train like no other in the country. With a top speed of 6.5 mph, a maximum gradient of 20% ...

Dr Bob Nicholson – The birth of the platform bookstore

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The train is a place of reading says Dr Bob Nicholson, Historian of Victorian Culture. Time spent on the train has always been used as a time to read....

Sherin Aminossehe – Meet me under the clocks

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sherin Aminossehe arrived in the UK as a young 6 year old girl. Her love of the railway was almost immediately piqued on a family holiday to Torquay. ...

Luke Ryan - The Talyllyn Railway and Rev Wilbert Awdry

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Talyllyn Railway volunteer Luke Ryan describes the history and heritage of the world’s first preserved heritage railway. Originally built to transpo...

Dr Neil Strong – promoting the flora and fauna of the rail network

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know that the railway provides one of nature’s unique corridors, abundant with plants and wildlife? Far from being isolated boundary strips ...

Toufic Machnouk – Evolution or revolution for the railway of the future?

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Ross – Celebrating the Forth Bridge

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Ross, Engineering and Asset Manager for Network rail in Scotland takes us a journey over the iconic Forth Bridge.  From his first impressions as...

Colin Haynes – Telling the stories behind the names

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A passion for history and his natural curiosity led Colin Haynes, Director of Environment, Health and Safety at Alstom, to research into the stories o...

Dr Mike Esbester – People make the railway

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People are fundamental to the railways - none more so than the staff who keep everything moving. But how do we find out about railway workers of 100 o...

Niccy Hallifax – Artistic and Festival Director of S&DR200

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What started as a month long celebration soon became a nine month national celebration and the S&DR200 festival continues to grow onwards into 202...

Iain Quinn - a nostalgic look back at the connections between the railways and the Waverley paddle steamer

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Iain Quinn, quartermaster on The Waverley, the last sea-going paddle steamer in Great Britain, takes a nostalgic look at the connection between rail a...

Samina Siddiqui - Muslims on the railways

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Author Samina Siddiqui shares her joy at researching the stories of Muslims working on Britain’s railways.  Through listening to stories from Musli...

Jools Townsend - Giving communities a voice through the Community Rail Network

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of the Community Rail Network explains the important history, evolution and contribution of the Community Rail Network...

Mark Smith – The Man in Seat 61

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the original Eurostar cars 7, 8, 11 or 12 seat 61 gave Mark Smith the perfect table and window view he wanted. So on special trips he would always ...

Linda Hilton – Stories from her railwayman dad John Monk

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The railway has been a part of Linda Hilton’s life since she was a young girl. In this Great Rail Tale, Linda tells of her love of listening to some...

Susan Major – The Railway Women of World War 2

15 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Author Susan Major tells the story of the role of women on the railway during World War 2 from her research of the oral history collections at the Nat...

Christian Wolmar - The railway and war

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist, author and railway historian Christian Wolmar reflects on the role that trains, and the railway network had on wars and the ways that war ...

John Chalmers – Driving Her Majesty the Late Queen to Paris

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale between Great Britain and France, Queen Elizabeth II travelled to Paris on the Eurostar. John Chalmers w...

Penny Allen – Discovering the railway is in your blood

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A shift in career led Penny Allen down an entirely different life track. A passion for the railway was born and soon led to her discovering that the r...

Alan Brooks – Oh la la! Driving the first train through the Channel Tunnel

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Eurostar driving instructor, Alan Brooks recalls a lifetime on the rails that he can trace back to a French class at school. But what started at schoo...

Tim Shoveller – From steam volunteer to CEO Freightliner Group

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A railwayman through and through, Tim Shoveller found himself using his bardic lamp to help guide an ambulance to a halt when his wife went into early...

Christina Burgess – Remembering Joseph Harrop

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Volunteer at the multi award winning Goostrey station, in this Great Rail Tale Christina Burgess recalls work and roles that railway worker, Joseph Ha...

Alex Alder – Discovering 39 tonnes of miracle

25 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When engineer and rail enthusiast, Alex Alder, got a message in a group chat saying someone had found a scrapped steam engine, little did he know the ...

Lewis Smith – What’s behind one of the world’s most famous logos?

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The iconic British Rail logo is one of, if not, the most recognisable brand images in the world. But what is behind the logo? What do these iconic dou...

Jenny Clementson – Researching the railway of the future

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Research project manager from the University of Derby, Jenny Clementson’s background was in the rail industry. Today she leads on the industry conne...

Sam Slatcher – Passengers and Pioneers

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Passengers and Pioneers is an album of stories from 1825 to today that celebrate what it means to be a passenger and travelling on a railway line. A w...

Shahiesta Raja – Stations of Welcome

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shahiesta describes her job as the best job in the world. She is the education development officer for Community Rail Lancashire. Her passion is suppo...

The Bee Friendly Trust – Pollinating the platforms

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our platforms and rail networks are alive with wildlife. Hanging baskets, wildflower planters and station gardens are all helping bees pollinate the f...

David Pitt – Adventures on the Iron Road

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David started his railway career as a station supervisor at Kingston, where he watched and learned how a station worked and was run. A transfer to bec...

Roy Edwards – The Railway Clearing House – The first human supercomputer

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Railway Clearing House revolutionised the allocation of revenues collected for travelling passengers and the carriage of freight on the early rail...

Jonathan Whitmore – Railway modelling through simulators

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Artist, railway history enthusiast, and YouTuber Jonathan Whitmore explores the world of railway scenes through virtual railway simulators. Having rec...

Lord Hendy – The Minister for Rail with transport in his blood

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The railway has been a part of Lord Hendy’s life since he was a young lad, listening to the passing roars and whistles of the passing steam trains o...

Andy Uttley - taking a walk on the wild side of the tracks!

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Retired railwayman Andy Uttley reflects back on a couple of humorous stories from his 40 years working on the railways. One of the more serious hazard...

Laura Littlefair – Putting Shildon on the map - the cradle of the railways

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Phd researcher Laura Littlefair at Northumbria University takes us on a journey through the history of Shildon, the Railway Town.  From its agricultu...

Tiegan - In praise of Trainbow

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Train enthusiast Tiegan talks about the impact the Intercity Express Trains (IET), specifically Trainbow 800 008 operated by Great Western Railway, ha...

Dr James Fowler - Turning the lights on and the Railways off

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr James Fowler, a business history lecturer at Essex University, discusses the little explored inter-relationship between the railways and energy net...

Sally Jones - Inspiring artists of the future

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 cen...

Karen Bennett - 200 stories of pride on the railways

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Bennett, Education Team Leader at Community Rail Lancashire, shares the story of “200 stories of railway pride”, an anthology of 200 stories...

Alexander Medcalf - the inter-war years, the golden age of train travel?

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Richard Cantrell – Leabrooks Central… in his back garden

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leabrooks Central is a unique, homebuilt replica railway station in Richard’s back garden. The idea came after Richard bought his partner Katherine ...

Bill Rogerson - An Intriguing Insight into the History of the British Transport Police

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 o...

John Edward – Remembering Private James McSherry at the Quintinshill Disaster

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 n...

Mark Gardner - Creativity inspired by iconic local locomotives

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 wher...

Rufus Boyd – Transforming society one sleeper at a time

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Louise Cheeseman – Changing careers, changing lives

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 i...

Lawrie Rose – Coming together across the world

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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

Steve Melia - Railwalking

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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’...

Neil Forbes – The fastest chocolate souffle in the world

27 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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) i...

David Mochan – 6VT Central Community Rail Partnership

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Mansbridge – Your first love is the deepest

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Georgie Read - A love affair sparked by a Tornado!

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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, l...

The Railway Stinkers

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Pete Waterman – A track record inspired by the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Songwriter, record producer and publisher, Pete Waterman is also an avid train enthusiast, sharing an interest in model railways with Jools Holland an...

Phil Hibberd and Great Great Grandad Jabez Atkinson

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Ra...

Chris Leech MBE – Rebuilding Futures Alliance

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Anthony Coulls – From eggs to elephants

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Senior curator at the National Railway Museum and Locomotion in Shildon, Anthony Coulls describes how the growth of the railway started to change huma...

Monisha Rajesh – Travelling the world by train

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

Rob Scargill – Railway Firsts on the Bicentenary train

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Curator of the Railway Futures Gallery at the National Railway Museum, Rob curated the ‘Railway Firsts’ carriage that forms part of Inspiration, t...

Dr. Oli Betts – How the railway helped form nations

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

Ziyad Aw – Escapism on the Isle of Sodor

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Railway enthusiast and volunteer Ziyad’s love for the railway started on the island of Sodor. Today Ziyad has taken his love for Thomas and friends ...

Matt Crossfield - Stepping into a different world

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Children’s author Matt Crossfield describes how experiencing the hiss, wheeze and roar of the steam railway at Dean Forest Railway for the first tim...

Fiona Campbell – Northbound Dreams

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fiona Campbell recalls a lifetime of memories of travelling on the Caledonian Sleeper spanning childhood holidays to hen weekends to trips to London w...

Kyla Hislop - how the railways brought us fish n chips!

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kyla Hislop, interpretation curator for the Iron Bridge Gorge Museum Trust, shares her passion for making our industrial history come alive through te...

Paul Stanford - how the railway made me

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A lifelong railway man who’s story goes back 150 years to his great great grandfather who started a family tradition of working on the railways.  T...

Reuben James – Making memories on the railways

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt shares an emotional and heartfelt story of how the railway gave his partner’s son Ruben his first smile and real laugh in 4 years. 14 year old ...

Gerald Townson – The Bentham dementia friendly line

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Born and bought up near The Bentham Line, today Gerald Townson is the Chairman of the Leeds Morecambe Community Rail Partnership, which includes The B...

Stephen Parr – The clock at Corris

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An active volunteer guard on the Corris Railway and lifelong rail enthusiast, Stephen’s passion for the steam railways started in the 1960’s, trav...

Rupert Furness – My Grandma and the Sutton Coldfield rail disaster

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Norman and Marjorie Fairy lived most of their lives in Sutton Coldfield, their house backing onto the railway line. A silver dish on their mantlepiece...

Anjali Devadasan – Powering the railways into the future

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Founder and CEO of innovative renewable energy company, Treeva, Anjali Devadasan is exploiting the wind turbulence caused by passing trains to generat...

Philip Dunn – the 1980’s version of Francis Bourgeois

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Executive Director of Finance and Operations at Alzheimer’s Research UK, one of the charities supported by Railway 200, Philip’s love of trains go...

Samuel Gómez Fernández – The railway as a beacon of hope

09 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a young boy in Costa Rica while Samuel loved playing with his model trains, he always dreamed of seeing a steam train in real life. His models gave...

Dan Richards – Riding the overnight mail trains

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and broadcaster Dan Richards has a fascination with the night. Inspired by his grandfather, Robert Daniel Butler who worked on the Travelling P...

Lizzie Lovejoy – The poetry of the people on the rails

03 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Railway enthusiast and performance poet, Lizzie Lovejoy takes us on a journey through her poetry into some of the lives of the people she has met as s...

Scott Dolling – A childhood spent on the rails

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scott’s mum and dad were crossing keepers at a station so his Great Rail Tale began long before he was born. Day to day and family revolved around t...

Alistair Johnson – Expanding the rail network coming at a personal cost

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recently retired Alistair Johnson describes historical links between the railway and abolition of the slave trade. To find out more about Railway 200 ...

Mike and Andrew Lamport – Generations on the rails

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Father and son, Mike and Andrew Lamport are just the latest generation of Lamports to be working on the UK rail network. Their family’s connection h...

Ian Smith – Railway time

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Vice President of Middleton Railway Trust, Ian Smith explains how the railway standardised time across the country. From Kent to Kendal, from Penzance...

Adam Sergent – modelling every tunnel in the UK

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A lifelong passion for the railways led Adam to develop his career on the network. Today he is the founder of the Neurodiversity in Transport network ...

Andrew Mitchell – It’s the people that make the railway move

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Railway Mission Chaplain Andrew shares some of the more amusing encounters of his life and career providing support to railway industry staff who are ...

Helen Bartlett – Providing support on life’s journey

12 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Railway Mission Chaplain to Northeast England, Helen has spent the last decade providing a listening ear to railway staff at stations from Berwick to ...

Ash Bhardwaj – A multi-sensory journey on the rails

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Award winning journalist, broadcaster and author Ash Bhardwaj shares his lifelong passion for the railways.  It all started when he was a young boy, ...

Ken Davies – 08721 Ken Davies

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ken Davies first stepped into the cab of a train aged 4 with his dad Ken Davies. He first drove one when he was 12, when he’d go to work with his da...

Bessie Matthews – Living out your childhood dream as a freight driver

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a freight driver for GB Railfreight, Bessie Matthews is living her childhood dream. A champion for women in the rail industry, Bessie drives a 66 C...

David Meara – A lifetime on the sleeper train

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Meara has been travelling on the sleeper trains from London to Scotland for over half a century. In this Great Rail Tale, David recalls the joy,...