The railway has been shaped by its people -from the early pioneers, through waves of immigration and women in wartime, to today’s diverse leaders. TONY STREETER reports

Mary Wade stood trial at the Old Bailey in 1789 for stealing a few items of clothing. She was only 10 years old, but London’s central criminal court condemned her to hang. Her sentence was commuted to

“One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” goes the old proverb. The meaning is simple: if you are going to be punished for a small crime, you may as well commit the bigger one. In the early

Step away from the bright lights and bustle and explore the capital’s dark side

Further to Dr Mike Esbester’s article “The Reign of the Railway” in the October issue, may I add another angle to the fascinating story of our railways and what they can tell us about family history –

On 2 January 1893, the black American abolitionist and reformer Frederick Douglass delivered a lecture on Haiti to an audience in Chicago. It was widely alleged, he reflected, that the Caribbean repub