As thousands gathered to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway, RAIL’s Features Editor ANDY COMFORT looks at how Locomotion No. 1 once again drew in the crowds

The urge to create model trains can be traced back to the genesis of the real railway. George Dent examines how what was once a pastime of the affluent few became a mass-market hobby that endures to this day.

PART ONE

The growth in the ‘fleet’ of preserved ex-main line loco seems to have slowed down in recent years due to a number of factors: fewer locos becoming available, a possible saturation of the fleet, and d

Being too young to go to Shildon in 1975, my railway hobby started with the Liverpool and Manchester Rocket 150 celebrations in May 1980. I have lasting memories of visiting Rainhill for the cavalcade

1M86, the 09.35 Glasgow Central-St Pancras, was the famous Up Thames Clyde Express and ran via the Glasgow Sou’ Western route, then the Settle and Carlisle line to Leeds, and then took the Midland Mai