Michael Williams – Page 2 – 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’.

Journey into the jungle on one of the remotest railways in the world

July 26, 2025

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 in Lancashire by the Vulcan Foundry, although these were out of service on the day of my visit. There are two return services a day, […]