A passion for history and his natural curiosity led Colin Haynes, Director of Environment, Health and Safety at Alstom, to research into the stories of the names on the war memorials at the Crewe works site. What started as a winter project has become much bigger, unearthing stories of Railway factory workers who gave their lives in both World Wars. People like Jeramiah Wilkinson who was one of the first railway worker casualties of the First World War.

What started as a project at Crewe, now as part of the Railway 200 celebrations, Colin is expanding to the Derby works sites to uncover more lost stories, and in his own words give these men agency and make them more than just a name on a memorial.

People are fundamental to the railways - none more so than the staff who keep everything moving. But how do we find out about railway workers of 100 or more years ago? What was working life like for them? And how did an innovative safety campaign spread from the railways to influence British society?

University of Portsmouth historian Dr Mike Esbester explores these questions, using the Railway Work, Life & Death project to look at the accidents railway workers had before the Second World War, and find out more about the people involved. He shows how one of the key initiatives the rail industry introduced to address staff safety spread far beyond the railways into all walks of life.

It's a tale about ordinary railway people's lives, posed photographs and friendly language that allows us to discover railway staff in the past!

What started as a month long celebration soon became a nine month national celebration and the S&DR200 festival continues to grow onwards into 2026. The artistic and festival Director of S&DR200, Niccy Hallifax, reflects back on the some of the highlights of and looks forward at the legacy of the anniversary year in County Durham and Tees Valley.

Iain Quinn, quartermaster on The Waverley, the last sea-going paddle steamer in Great Britain, takes a nostalgic look at the connection between rail and sail.  His earliest memory of travelling on the Waverley goes back to childhood when he used to travel by train then take the paddle steamer via Craigendoran to get home to Dunoon, West of Glasgow. 

Author Samina Siddiqui shares her joy at researching the stories of Muslims working on Britain’s railways.  Through listening to stories from Muslims working on the railways across the 60s, 70s, and 80s Samina uncovered rich themes of duty, service and a real sense of belonging and community.  The research has also inspired her to dig into her own family past, a story which has revealed a strong personal connection to the railways in India stretching back through the generations.

Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of the Community Rail Network explains the important history, evolution and contribution of the Community Rail Network to our relationship with the railways.  Set up around 30 years ago, the Community Rail Network aims to help and encourage communities and community groups to get involved with their railways so they get as much benefit as possible from the railways as well as having a voice in the future development of the railway network. 

In the original Eurostar cars 7, 8, 11 or 12 seat 61 gave Mark Smith the perfect table and window view he wanted. So on special trips he would always book this place on the train. Inevitably when this career railwayman developed a website about international train travel it could have only one name.

Inspired by a school trips by train to the then Leningrad and todays Moscow Mark’s passion for rail travel has taken all over the globe.

But his favourite line is far more closer to home than you might expect from the International travelling man in Seat 61.

The railway has been a part of Linda Hilton’s life since she was a young girl. In this Great Rail Tale, Linda tells of her love of listening to some of her dad’s stories from a career spent on the rails with his closest friend Brian Selkeld.

John and Brian worked together for decades but lost touch after retirement. A chance meeting bought these two great friends and colleagues back together and now today they entertain friends and families with their stories and laughs from throughout their careers.

Author Susan Major tells the story of the role of women on the railway during World War 2 from her research of the oral history collections at the National Railway Museum.

Journalist, author and railway historian Christian Wolmar reflects on the role that trains, and the railway network had on wars and the ways that war have been fought.

Rather than just ferrying troops to or from embarkation ports, Christian explains how the symbiotic relationship between trains and frontlines has shaped modern warfare. He reflects on the railway engineers who had to rebuild the tracks of France after D Day to support the Allied advance and how the Ukrainian railway today has shown that the railway is absolutely vital to the resupply of the front and stalling the Russian invasion of Kiev.