Diversion! … via the ‘old road’

Thousands of workers stepping off their morning train has become an enduring image of the railway. But the custom of commuting has constantly evolved, as CHRISTIAN WOLMAR reports

ABOVE: On June 2, 1980, 20066 hauls a coal train from Markam Colliery formed of mineral wagons and hoppers at Barrow Hill, having just come off the line from Hall Lane Junction and Seymour Junction. C

Strolling across the beautiful Grosvenor Gardens in the late 1950s/early 1960s, one was greeted by the imposing sight of the statue of General Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Force

When my mother announced that she was going to visit her sister in Saltford, a village on the eastern outskirts of Bristol, I jumped at the chance of accompanying her. This was in the spring of 1952,

Those of us privileged to have participated in the final years of steam on the Class 1 services emanating out of London’s Waterloo station were indeed blessed. For sure, although the condition and cle

Today we might minimise or even overlook the railway’s significance, because it is such an established part of our lives. Yet at its height the industry employed more than half a million people across