Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mallard is the name of an LNER streamlined A4 engine. It’s famous for having set the world speed record for a steam engine at 126mph in 1938. They are celebrating the 70th anniversary of this amazing achievement at the NRM, … Continue reading →

  This image, from America and from about 1875, shows three train conductors. The history of 19C photography is full of non-standard types of image and technique…the first images were relatively unstable and were fixed to metal and glass. That’s … Continue reading →

Soul Train was an American TV pop programme that started in 1971. The series grew from an itinerant “Soul Train Talent Show” that searched the Chicago area high schools for singers and dancers. In the circumstances,t he programme naturally attached … Continue reading →

Reading is a town in England. It is an important stop on the London – Bristol, Great Western mainline. However, this is a post about the activity of reading. So, it’s books on the train. Roy Porter has described how … Continue reading →

I’ve posted a couple of times about my looking forward to the remake of The Lady Vanishes. The BBC have been trailing this, as in-the-pipeline, since before Christmas. So, we can assume it has been one of their trophy projects. … Continue reading →

There was a terrific film about the cultural significance of LNER 4472 – Flying Scotsman – the most famous steam locomotive in the world! You can watch the film, here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b008m6wb/The_Flying_Scotsman_A_Rail_Romance/ I was surprised to learn that steam locomotives didn’t … Continue reading →

Bob Godfrey, the award winning animator, has passed away aged 91. I’ve posted a picture of the great Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, to make the connection to his biographical film, Great (1975). Brunel is a larger-than-life figure who conceptualised … Continue reading →

There was an interesting story about American plans for a high-speed (HS) rail network. The chances of this happening any time soon are pretty remote. The vested-interests have the politicians in their pocket. The best thing would be to reconceptualise … Continue reading →

Grand Central Station is one of the great stations of the world. But, I doubt that it is the loveliest, or even close. That claim was made  by David Cannadine, historian, on BBC Radio 4s “Points of View.” You can … Continue reading →