To celebrate our reaching 250 episodes, I thought I'd tell the tale of the little railway station that rebelled against Westminster's swinging axe and survived for us all to enjoy today...

Located in a stunning spot on the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, Duncraig station sees only around 500 passengers a year hopping on or off trains at its diminutive halt. But it is a unique, beautiful and helpful little station, and the story of its survival holds lessons for us all. So let's tell it!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

Well, they did it. Where the Conservatives blocked it from being built, Labour have in fact waved it through, in a move that will set back both the UK's environmental and economic targets by decades. We'll talk a bit about this decision, why it is really bad, and of course dig into a few months of other news as well. And we have the delight of being joined by Rob from Podcasting Is Praxis, helping halve/double the despair...

Go and find Praxiscast: https://praxiscast.podbean.com/

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

Way back in Episode 65 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2v846_jqwc), we took a network development look at the Scottish railway map, but we didn't really take a material look at what the missing bits really were... Tonight, we fix that!

We look at Scotland's missing railway links that will need to be plugged for the future economy the Scottish Government keep talking about to materialise. We look beyond the approach we considered in the previous episode to see how missing links call on other demands than pure population development. And! We! Look! At! Maps!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

In the first of a couple of Scotland episodes, we're thinking about ISLANDS and how the hell to get to them in a way that's sustainable by all definitions of the term...

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

This week, we are taking a close look at the UK government's white paper on English devolution...

Back in Episode 105 with Jon Stone, we talked in detail about how the UK would simply never have better public transport without deep and meaningful devolution, including of funding powers... It's something we'd been talking about before and we've certainly been talking about it a lot since. Will these plans hit the mark?

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

2024 was dismal, for me and for lots of other people too... But 2025 brings us a wealth of opportunities for shaping our railways and the wider world for good. Whether it's rail reform, devolution, level boarding, #Rail200, or the enormous sustained demand for more rail services in the UK, it might just be a really exciting year. At least we can start out thinking that way at least!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

In the first of what I hope will be a format we can exploit long into the future, Tom Pain (host of @tenthousandlossespodcast4026) joins us to talk about US flights that don't need to exist because they should - or indeed already do - have better rail alternatives.

But which, according to our patented scientific assessment system, will be the most stupid flight of all? Watch to find out!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

For various BUSY WEEK reasons, we're slotting into a different spot this week so that we can all have a nice chat about the utterly bonkers year that was 2024... Tuesday at 7pm!

As the last live show of the year, we're going back to #Railnatter basics and having an open Ask Me Anything session with a twist: it will be our first on-location live episode! Will it work? Join to find out!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

I'm delighted that Luke Agbaimoni (a.k.a. @tubemapper) is joining us once again to talk through a few images from his latest, stunning, book themed around contrast on the TfL system... It really is a treat, and we get stuck in as we've done for his previous two books!

Luke's book is available here: https://amzn.eu/d/2AO6bna or you can pick up a signed copy here: https://tubemapper.com/tube-mapper-photo-books-1-2/

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways

Before being unceremoniously ousted for no reason whatsoever, Louise Haigh's last act as Secretary of State for Transport was to announce her integrated national transport strategy, or at least that it would land in about a year's time.

We'll read through the announcement, speculate on why she has been booted and what it might mean, and talk a bit about misogyny in the rail industry. Plus a bit of other news too, I'd imagine.

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Railnatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

You can also buy my book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture: https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways