Michael Williams – Railway & Travel writer

Michael Williams:
author & journalist

Michael is a journalist, academic and author – writing, blogging and broadcasting on railways and the media. He is also a travel writer, having covered the world for a variety of publications. Read more…

The Trains
Now Departed

Michael Williams’s most recent book The Trains Now Departed: Sixteen excursions into the lost delights of Britain’s railways is published by Arrow Books. Find out more about Michael’s other books, including ‘On the Slow Train’, ‘On the Slow Train Again’ and ‘Steaming to Victory’.

A thrilling tribute to the great days of British engineering

March 14, 2026

A THRILLING journey at high speeds from Euston to Carlisle along the West Coast Main Line this week behind ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’, of the world-speed record holding A4 class, and Deltic diesel ‘Royal Scots Grey’ – in its day the most powerful diesel loco in the world. What do these splendid vintage machines have in common? They are both products of a noble era of British engineering – the first built at the LNER’s legendary Doncaster Works and the second […]