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

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

An all-day radio broadcast from a train travelling down the length of Britain (almost) from the Highlands of Scotland to London – that was how BBC Radio 3 celebrated the 200th anniversary, on Saturday

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.

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