We’ve reached the last stops for Tim Dunn’s third series of The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday. Tim shows us the Grade I listed Curzon Street station in Birmingham in the final episode, ahead of its transformation into part of the new terminus for high speed railway HS2. It’s at this site, in March 2019, where … 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
Joseph Locke was just 17 when he took part in pioneering work that set out the birth of the modern passenger railway. Locke was born into a family of colliery managers on 9 August 1805. His planning for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the North of England – under the leadership of engineer George … Continued
The battle to establish a standard gauge between the rails across Britain ended 129 years ago. So why do we still have variations in track today? The end of the line for Brunel’s broad gauge Paddington to Penzance, the weekend of 20 to 23 May, 1892. Railway workers rip up the last stretch of Isambard … Continued
The Network Rail archive is the custodian of a vast collection of historic documents and plans relating to today’s railway infrastructure. It represents the development of the most significant structures, engineers and innovation on the railway from the 19th century to the present. Each month we will delve into the archive to shine a light on the … Continued
On this day 217 years ago, Robert Stephenson was born – the only son of Father of the Railways. Building on the incredible achievements of his father, eminent engineer Robert made an enormous contribution to the railway, in Britain and around the world. His forward thinking enabled the significant expansion of railways during the ‘railway mania’ of the … Continued