Melbury House / Dr. Beeching etc
In this year, the 125th of the Great Central Railway, a particular look is taken at some aspects of the happenings around Marylebone and what they meant for the UK’s transport systems. In the good old days after nationalisation in 1948 the railways continued to grow and everything was looking…
Barnstaple to Ilfracombe #3
The former railway from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe opened on 20th July 1874 – 150 years ago. It never reached its 100th anniversary, closing on 5th October 1970. By the time the anniversary year came about four years later, the line had been disused for that time and not long after,…
Barnstaple to Ilfracombe #2
This is the second part of the online guide to the Ilfracombe railway and features the stretch from Braunton to Willingcott. That is near near the summit of the line just south of Mortehoe. Although around half of the route through Barnstaple, Braunton and Ilfracombe now constitutes the Tarka Trail,…
Paddington station has a brick wall to rival King’s Cross Platform 9 & 3⁄4!
Who needs Hogwarts and the magic wall that gives access to Platform 9 & 3⁄4 at King’s Cross when one can just as easily have that elsewhere too! Well that’s where Paddington station comes in! Besides having a bear from Peru, Paddington station now has a secret platform where, for…
Barnstaple to Ilfracombe #1
The Barnstaple and Ilfracombe railway opened in July 1874 thus 2024 is the 150th anniversary of the line’s opening. Despite opposition the line closed in October 1970 after British Railways had totally rationalised the line in an attempt to keep the costs of running it to a minimum. Ultimately the…
The Mumbles Railway 1804-1960
2024 is the 220th anniversary of the opening of the Mumbles railway, said to be the world’s first ever passenger carrying line. Although the line began tracklaying in 1804 services to the quarries concerned did not begin for some time whilst passenger services did not start until 1807. Thus 25th…
Western Galore!
A number of pictures I found during research upon a related subject – in fact there were so many it was difficult to choose from! Why enthuse over the Westerns anyway? Well like many others I simply found the class very admirable and it was impossible to not like the…
Give my regards to… Broad Street
Broad Street station (1865-1986) has the dubious honour of being London’s only main line terminus to be erased off the map completely. The station was deliberately run down and had a dreadful appearance to say the least. The roof leaked like a sieve and that’s very evident in this post!…
Stockport Tiviot Dale
Stockport Edgeley (nowadays plain Stockport) was so named because Stockport had another station not too far away. This was the one known as Tiviot Dale (alternatively Teviot Dale as it was sometimes called). The route was operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee and formed part of the old route from…
The Arterio 701 arrives!
The Aventra Class 701 (described by SWR as Arterio) has finally made it to public service! The first ever in service outing for the long delayed class took place on 9th January 2023 with a one a day Waterloo to Windsor duty. Its four years since the new trains first…