G03 - Passenger Train Services

Did You Know?

Personal recollections of railways

Nov 24, 20223 min read

French Exchange

British and French enginemen try each other’s locomotives. . . . . . . In the late 1950s, Richard Hardy (who was generally known as Dick...

Oct 20, 20224 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Child Emigration starting by Train

To Canada and Elsewhere. . . . . . . From 1887 onwards, 16,000 children in the care of the Barnardo’s charity for vulnerable children had...

Jul 13, 20224 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Feeling The Heat

Hot passengers, hot tracks and warm bananas. . . . . . . . Let’s look first at the well wrapped-up passengers of old. Engineer Archibald...

Mar 29, 20223 min read

C01A - Southern England

Rabbits and Railways

A one-time revenue source - and unwelcome tunnellers. . . . . . . . In the days when rabbits were an important part of the national human...

The Funeral Train of King George VI.70 years ago, Paddington to Windsor.

Feb 15, 20223 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

The Funeral Train of King George VI.70 years ago, Paddington to Windsor.

70 years ago on the 15th February 1952, the nation was in mourning following the death of King George VI. It was arranged that the King’s...

Dec 18, 20214 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

The “Wallingford Bunk”

In 1864, an independent company secured powers to build a railway from Wallingford Road, Moulsford through Wallingford to Watlington – a...

Dec 14, 20214 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

The “Marlow Donkey”

On 28th June 1873 the Great Marlow Railway Company’s line opened for passenger traffic. At two miles and 61 chains long, it became the...

Dec 1, 20212 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Buy British!

90 years ago in November 1931, the westbound Paddington to Penzance “Cornish Riviera Express” hauled by “King” class locomotive number...

Nov 24, 20214 min read

E08B - Mechanical components

The Bristolian

One train that was always guaranteed to rattle the windows of my booking office and leave a vortex was “The Bristolian” Paddington to...

Queen Victoria's early rail journeys to Balmoral

Oct 30, 20214 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Queen Victoria's early rail journeys to Balmoral

Prince Albert had bought the Balmoral estate unseen in 1848. That year, Queen Victoria and Albert travelled by a circuitous rail route...

Oct 17, 20214 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Holiday Trains – The Inside Story

Holiday tours by train in the East Midlands including Mystery Tours and Starlight Specials. . . . . . . Rather like you, I imagine, I...

Jul 7, 20214 min read

G03 - Passenger Train Services

Pilgrims' progress

Pilgrims arriving at Lourdes station: photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Since the apparitions seen by Bernadette Soubirous...

The High Speed Train is now slipping into history

Mar 26, 20201 min read

E10A - Diesel locos

The High Speed Train is now slipping into history

As we see the withdrawal and re-purposing of BR’s High Speed Trains, we can reflect on one of their glory days at least, now almost 35...

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The Friends of the National Railway Museum

Did You Know?