Great Rail Tales

Mike and Andrew Lamport – Generations on the rails

Father and son, Mike and Andrew Lamport are just the latest generation of Lamports to be working on the UK rail network. Their family’s connection however to the rails can be traced back to 1846 when Mike's Great Great Grandfather became a guard at Waterloo.
Can you trace your family connection to the railways further back than Mike and Andrew?
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Ian Smith – Railway time

Vice President of Middleton Railway Trust, Ian Smith explains how the railway standardised time across the country. From Kent to Kendal, from Penzance to Perth railway time bought the entire network and nation together to operate smoothly and in synchronicity wherever you were.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Adam Sergent – modelling every tunnel in the UK

A lifelong passion for the railways led Adam to develop his career on the network. Today he is the founder of the Neurodiversity in Transport network and in 2024 was the Young Rail Professionals Volunteer of the year.
As a systems support manager he has developed a model profile of every tunnel in the UK that examines the acoustic characteristics of each tunnel. But why is this important? For people who may find tunnels distressing this exact profile of the tunnel can be shared with them before the train enters it. So loud bangs, pops and surges of air which some people may find distressing can be prepared for.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Andrew Mitchell – It’s the people that make the railway move

Railway Mission Chaplain Andrew shares some of the more amusing encounters of his life and career providing support to railway industry staff who are going through difficult times.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Helen Bartlett – Providing support on life’s journey

Railway Mission Chaplain to Northeast England, Helen has spent the last decade providing a listening ear to railway staff at stations from Berwick to Thirsk, from Carlisle to Whitby. Every day is different and the surprises are varied, for Helen though it is giving her support and care to those that need it that drives her on.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Ash Bhardwaj – A multi-sensory journey on the rails

Award winning journalist, broadcaster and author Ash Bhardwaj shares his lifelong passion for the railways.  It all started when he was a young boy, travelling through India with his family, a multi-sensory journey of discovery through his father’s homeland.  Railways, Ash believes, give you access to culture and conversation like no other form of transport and his journeys by rail across the globe have given a rich insight into people and places.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Ken Davies – 08721 Ken Davies

Ken Davies first stepped into the cab of a train aged 4 with his dad Ken Davies. He first drove one when he was 12, when he’d go to work with his dad. What started as a young boy’s passion has become a career lasting over half a century that has taken Ken Davies across the country in a just about every class of train.
To mark his achievement, the shunter 08721 was renamed Ken Davies in his honour. For Ken junior, touching that nameplate was a lifelong thank you to his dad Ken senior.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Bessie Matthews – Living out your childhood dream as a freight driver

As a freight driver for GB Railfreight, Bessie Matthews is living her childhood dream. A champion for women in the rail industry, Bessie drives a 66 Class from Southampton to Birmingham. In her Great Rail Tale, she describes the tranquillity of being in the cab and her passion to pass on her skills and experience to other women learning to become train drivers.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

David Meara – A lifetime on the sleeper train

David Meara has been travelling on the sleeper trains from London to Scotland for over half a century.
In this Great Rail Tale, David recalls the joy, excitement and romance of pulling down your blind in a grubby, dirty terminus one evening and reopening it the following morning to the sight of heather clad Highland mountains, deer walking beside the line and peaty rivers racing the train along the track.
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/

Siggy Cragwell - A rewarding career in rail

Recruited from his home in Barbados to work in Britain during the Windrush era, Siggy Cragwell had a passion for the railways. He started working on steam trains in March 1962 and in the following 63 years he has worked across the network, every day enlivened by the people he meets and talks to.
 
To find out more about Railway 200 and to listen to more Great Rail Tales visit our website: https://railway200.co.uk/