Blog

IT MAY seem grim for the regional print press at the moment – the latest audited circulation figures show a drop of more than 11 per cent in a year. And the plight of local papers even features in the current storyline of the hit TV series Broadchurch, where the local newspaper is facing closure, […]

WONDERFUL to see steam on  timetabled services on the Settle and Carlisle line this week. For the first time in half a century it’s been possible to buy a ticket on National Rail and travel behind a steam locomotive on a normal scheduled train service. Of course, the S&C line – England’s most scenic – […]

  UNDER the heading “Rip-off rail fares scrapped” The Times reports that “thousands of expensive long-distance fares” are to be axed from the National Rail database to ensure travellers get a cheaper deal”. But will  they? The train companies’ are planning lower prices for long-distance journeys where passengers change trains along the route. Currently it […]

  SPOTTED in W. H. Smith’s new bookshop at Euston station (handily next to Paul Theroux!) the paperback edition of The Trains Now Departed…all ready to while away a New Year train journey. so if you’re stuck on the Southern or diverted on Virgin here’s a book that will be the perfect companion for your […]

  JUST returned from a trip sampling some of the finest heritage steam in Yorkshire – aboard the magical trains of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It’s half-term and the services are packed – yet most of those riding the trains will have hardly any memory of the […]

IMAGINE you could create your ultimate fantasy train set. For me (and I suspect possibly you) it would be a network of quaint branch lines passing through some remote, timeless and beautiful landscape. The little wayside stations would be immaculate and the regular train service would run on time every day of the year. The […]

  My article on Germany’s Harz Railway, from Telegraph Travel, September 3 2016: IMAGINE you could create your ultimate fantasy train set. For me (and I suspect possibly you) it would be a network of quaint branch lines passing through some remote, timeless and beautiful landscape. The little wayside stations would be immaculate and the […]

  HERE’s me filming for BBC TV’s  new series Trainspotting Live, beginning next week (July 11). I’m with the presenter Tim Dunn after we travelled along the New North line out of Paddington to West Ruislip. And here’s a splendid set of GWR lower quadrant signals we spotted along the way…