Michael Williams – Page 39 – 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’.

Goodbye to the Pacer trains – unlike many, I’m sad to see them go

November 30, 2020

Nicknamed the Nodding Donkeys, because of their rough riding on the track, the last Pacer trains in northern England made their final journey last Friday November 27, on a service from Kirkby in Lancashire to Manchester Victoria. Built as stopgap trains in the 1980s, and initially constructed from Leyland bus parts, they were hated by many passengers. Their concertina doors let the draughts in on winter days and the four-wheel chassis caused ear-jangling squeals on curved track and points. Their […]