What hope now for the “railway deserts”?

How do you celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway? By building a replica of the inaugural train – complete with replica chaldron waggons and the coach Experiment. But updating 1820s technology and design for 2020s standards is no mean feat.

Running a heritage railway is not an easy job. Many of our favourite lines were set up by groups of dedicated enthusiasts in the wake of the Beeching cuts of the early 1960s, since going on to become

As we have seen across five articles so far – see related reading from the authors, page 23 – the provision of an engine shed at Thornton Junction facilitated a broad reach of influence and operation