A plaque dedicated to Wilston Samuel Jackson, Britain’s first Black train driver, has been unveiled at London King’s Cross station. It’s hoped the plaque, unveiled during Black History Month, on 25 October, to mark his outstanding contribution to the rail industry, will encourage more people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to consider a … Continued
Presenter Tim Dunn tells us all about London’s first ever terminus in brand-new The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday. Spa Road station in Bermondsey opened in February 1836 for the first section of the London and Greenwich Railway and is arguably the ancestor of today’s London Bridge station. Spa Road dates back to the … Continued
Stunning original drawings of one of Britain’s earliest railways have re-emerged in our archive. The archive, in York, has just rediscovered engineer Thomas Longridge Gooch’s plans for the Manchester and Leeds Railway, which opened in 1839. The original contract drawings for this line, which date from about 1836, are rare examples of highly artistic railway … Continued
Presenter Tim Dunn visits Britain’s first modern high speed railway line – the Selby Diversion – in the latest instalment of The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday. Tim meets the engineer behind this 1980s engineering triumph, which was essential to safe journeys when coal was discovered beneath the East Coast Main Line from London … Continued
Television presenter Tim Dunn joins a night shift in the latest episode of The Architecture the Railways Built to find out what it takes to look after our Victorian infrastructure. Watch episode four of series three on Yesterday to watch Tim and our engineers inside the beautiful Bramhope Tunnel in Leeds. The two-mile tunnel on … Continued
London Charing Cross station stars in the new series of The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday. Read on for some bonus history and find out what Sir Christopher Wren has to do with it … In episode three, presenter Tim Dunn visits Charing Cross – London’s most central terminus – and finds incredible hidden … Continued
Historian Tim Dunn has returned for a third series of The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday – and filmed some exclusive bonus footage … Tim took a trip back to Newcastle – one of the world’s most important cities for railway heritage – to find out more about its story. In this video, he … Continued
Plans for Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s hidden underground shelter from the Blitz are some of the most intriguing in our historic archive. There are 270 working stations on Transport for London‘s (TfL’s) network but at least 40 that still exist and are closed to passengers, according to TfL. Down Street – in Mayfair and sitting … Continued
Getting away to the coast this summer? Our railway has a long tradition of transporting holidaymakers to the British seaside – and making countless happy memories. The railway didn’t just revolutionise Britain’s industry and economy – it made it possible for Victorians to take day trips and holidays away from home for the first time. … Continued
We look back at one of our most unique historic restorations – ‘the heart of London’. The Eleanor Cross – now on the forecourt of London Charing Cross railway station – historically marked the centre of the capital. In August 2010, we completed a 10-month project to repair and restore the Victorian railway replica of … Continued