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CHUFFED to be asked by the National Archive to do a presentation for the bicentenary of Britain’s railways next week, commemorating the first passenger train on the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825. No sooner had I settled down to my laptop than the news came in yesterday that the government were halting plans for […]

I HAVE been honoured this year to be appointed chair of the 2025 Hugh Cudlipp Award. Cudlipp was one of the titans of modern journalism. Our panel of distinguished media figures have now completed their judging. Although we cannot reveal our verdict until the ceremony on October 22, we can confirm that today’s journalism is […]

  MY Son Edmund and I had great day in Derby to celebrate 200 years of Britain’s railways at the “Greatest Gathering” – the world’s biggest ever assembly of historic trains. Big-up to Alstom who hosted it in their historic Litchurch Lane factory!It sometimes seems fashionable to deride corporates. But here was a proud icon […]

JUST returned from travelling on the North Borneo Railway, one of the remotest railways in the world. It was a wonderful trip from Kota Kinabalu into the jungle along the South China Sea. Built by the British to transport tobacco, it is astonishing it is still running. There are even two splendid steam locomotives, built […]

  JUST returned with our family from the trip of a lifetime through the jungles and mighty rivers of Borneo to spot some of the last wild orangutans left on the planet.Magical but poignant also, since these intelligent, shy creatures – our closest relatives in the natural world – are on the verge of extinction […]

JUST returned from a memorable steam trip through Germany on the inaugural journey of Belle Trains. The “Harz Mountain Belle” took us across the nation, behind a giant vintage “Class O1” steam locomotive. We travelled in luxury art-deco carriages, served delicious food, visiting Cologne, Nuremberg, Dresden, Leipzig and Wiesbaden. Our destination was the magical steam-operated […]

ON this VE anniversary weekend, I am thinking of the heroes and heroines who I interviewed for my book on the crucial role Britain’s railways played in winning the war. Selfless, modest folk – the like of whom we shall not see again. (If you are interested, the book is published by Penguin Random House […]

BOOK your tickets now for Britain’s longest train journey, which comes to an end on May 16. Cross Country trains is axing the Aberdeen to Penzance through service, a mighty 774-mile journey. stopping at 32 stations, taking 13 hours and 20 minutes. What’s left for mega-journey train fanatics? Well, the Trans-Siberian is out of bounds […]