Tales from the Tracks

01/01/2025

Happy New Year! If anyone in the country ends this year without becoming at least a little more aware of the UK's prominence within the history of railways, I'll be amazed. Rail200 officially launches at midday with heritage railways across the land being encouraged to mark the occasion by firing up and setting off their whistles and horns - Here’s to a rail-filled year!🥂

In 2025 Railway 200 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. Nationwide celebrations are planned.

25/12/2024

I’m never going to beat spotting Father Christmas as he travelled between Eastbourne and Ashford International last year - so here's the photo again -
Happy Christmas to you all

11/12/2024

And the Tales from the Tracks: Best Dressed Christmas Station 2024 award goes to .....
Battle -
St Pancras may have its huge corporate tree but that's nothing compared to the sheer joy and exuberance shining through these Sussex gothic windows. From the "yarn bombed" panto characters welcoming you outside to the beautiful tree (not to mention THE MAN HIMSELF!), Battle really has gone the extra festive mile.
Why not treat yourself to a visit, especially next Wednesday when they will host Carol Singers from 6-7pm.

04/12/2024

A little musical interlude with a Blandford Forum twist : https://youtu.be/U6OHD2uCpfU
Closed as part of, what has come to be known as "the Beeching Cuts" Blandford lost its railway connection in 1969.

A bit of nostalgia from Donald Swann and Michael Flanders

27/11/2024

Blandford Forum had long been a staging post on the way to the West Country, boosted by its reconstruction during the Georgian period, this small market town became home to a surprisingly substantial railway junction. Its first rail link was as part of the Dorset Central Railway, but Blandford station was superseded in 1863 by Blandford Forum, sited just across the river Stour, when the DCR merged with the Somerset Central Railway.
Image credit: Ann Austin for Tales from the Tracks 2024 @ Blandford Town Museum Blandford Town Museum | Caring for the past, informing the future in Dorset.

21/11/2024

Don't forget - If you have worked for the railways in Ashford, Kent the local museum would love to see you at their Railway Memories Collection day TOMORROW from 11 - 5. (refreshments provided)
Help celebrate the town's railway history and preserve it for generations to come.
Southeastern Railway Action Group Kent Community Rail Partnership Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre

20/11/2024

Preserved for posterity and positively channelling the look of a Roman antiquity, this is not your usual public park feature. Even its place name suggests a more extensive history than its near 160 years, but Blandford Forum should be congratulated on its foresight to save this piece of railway architectural history. Sadly, on the day we were there its walkway was closed due to the hefty rain they'd had, but visitors are normally welcome to climb the stairs and take the short walk to the end from which to admire the riverside view.
Image credit: Ann Austin for Tales from the Tracks 2024.

13/11/2024

Get ready to party! Tomorrow is the 30th birthday of Eurostar services. The first of its limited schedule services, christened "Discovery Service" departed Waterloo International for Paris with a service to Brussels- South starting the same day. Full services wouldn't commence until May 1995.
Image credit: Ann Austin for Tales from the Tracks @ Ashford International station.

09/11/2024

Folkestone Harbour station appears to be set to become a shopping precinct

New computer-generated images show just how dramatically a seaside town will change if a multimillionaire's vision becomes a reality.

02/11/2024

Poetry and railways – is there a connection? Well, I bet you know at least some of the words to what is arguably, poet W.H. Auden’s most famous work. Written during his brief tenure with the GPO Film Unit, a role he undertook as part of his belief in the 1930s movement to widen the accessibility of the arts. Although technically a “verse commentary” Night Mail lies within the broader scope of the poetry genre. Auden’s words, together with the mastery of Benjamin Britten’s score and the skills of Harry Watt and Basil Wright created a truly memorable and accessible acknowledgement of the LMS post train service.
BTW: Auden shares another connection with railways as he was born in York.
Image:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmciuKsBOi0

In the documentary "Night Mail" (1936), John Grierson narrates the opening scene with WH Auden's poem of the same name, "Night Mail." Auden wrote the poem sp...

31/10/2024

In case you didn’t know - I didn’t

Train operators including Southeastern are offering free travel for serving military personnel and veterans to and from Services of Remembrance across Great Britain.

Follow the link below for details.

https://media.raildeliverygroup.com/news/rail-industry-announces-free-travel-for-military-personnel-and-veterans-to-attend-remembrance-services

31/10/2024

Good morning, Yes, I'm posting on a Thursday! Please help spread the word about the forthcoming "Railway Memory Collection Day" Ashford Museum is holding on Friday 22nd November 2024.
From 11am anyone who worked for/on Ashford's railways (or is currently employed there) is encouraged to drop by the museum's conservation annexe. Come along, see items from the railway collection, chat about your railway experience, and share a coffee and a slice of cake! You may well bump into an old friend or two!
Ashford Museum Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre Kent Railways Past & Present The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Supporters' Association The Kent & East Sussex RailwayBritish Railways Steam 1948 -1968Women And Railways - Women In The Railway Industry Incl Light Rail & MetroRailscape Ltd

30/10/2024

– Let's get all philosophical! Not words usually associated with railways but as October is the UK’s official poetry month it seems only right to celebrate connections between railways and expressive literature. Barter Books in Alnwick is famous for its vast collection of books for sale, its connection with railways and its model railway which runs above the heads of browsers. But these words from Ted Hughes struck me as I seized a copy of Frank McKenna’s excellent The Railway Workers, 1840 – 1970 for myself. For how many men and women did gaining railway employment open up a new world? Particularly in its first decades, working for the railways offered stable, relatively secure employment, but more than that, the opportunity to access housing, health care, banking, social and sporting clubs, gain qualifications and secure a place on a progressive career ladder. Considering the rates of death and injury, mine may be a rosy-eyed view of the world, but nevertheless for the working classes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, railway employment could be transformative.
Barter Books Alnwick

24/10/2024

Here's the complete poem "From a railway carriage" composed by Robert Louis Stephenson in 1885

03/10/2024

On this day in history – 1994 - Car shuttle services began operation through the Channel Tunnel. As of March 2024, Le Shuttle calculated that 100 million cars have made the journey.
Information source: https://www.leshuttle.com/uk-en/discover/why-choose-leshuttle/build/the-channel-tunnel

29/09/2024

Well, I wasn't expecting that! Whilst Googling some beer related background info this popped up! That Beer in Devon has its own miniature railway. Opened in 1975, the 7 ¼ gauge light railway loops its way through specially designed garden "rooms", whilst overlooking Lyme Bay. I'm guessing like many garden railways, it appears to have been a case of the chicken and the egg, which came first? To add to its attractions, Pecorama is home to Ex Golden Arrow Pullman coach "Orion". Following restoration at Wolverton works, "Orion" commenced its second incarnation as the luxury dining venue within the railway's Victorian platform reconstruction area. BTW search as I have, I haven't been able to establish when "garden railways" began, do you know? I'd love to find out.
Information source: https://www.pecorama.co.uk/
FYI: This post has not been sponsored by Pecorama or any of their affiliates

Pecorama - a perfect day out for railway enthusiasts, children of all ages, garden lovers and visitors to Devon. Something for all the family...