We left off the previous post in this series talking about the early railway boom and the passenger experience in those early days. To do justice to the history of British railways it would take me more than the rest of 2026 in blog posts and I have some other fun things to tell you about, so I'll just give you some highlights. If this is a topic that interests you, there are plenty of histories on YouTube and elsewhere.
As is the way with most booms, the railway bubble eventually burst, resulting in losses for many investors. A key figure in this was "Railway King" George Hudson, who was running what was essentially a pyramid scheme of railway investments.
There were major developments in technology, both in Britain and elsewhere. These improved safety as well as the passenger experience. Sleeper cars started in the 1830s with very primitive beds, evolving and eventually resulting in the Pullman carriages of the 1860s. Train carriages also introduced corridors. If you recall from my previous post, early carriages were essentially like stagecoaches on wheels, so once you got in, you were stuck in that carriage until you got out. The addition of a narrow hallway made a huge difference, making it easier to move around along the train and allowing for the introduction of dining cars and toilets.
Train carriage with corridor on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
Trains also expanded travel to classes that had not had easy access to it before. Labourers could move to new locations, seeking jobs. Perhaps even more substantial was the boom in leisure travel. One result of this was Queen Victoria's move from the Royal Pavillion in increasingly crowded Brighton to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Although...looking at the two, it's possible architectural preference was a factor!
Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Osborne House, Isle of Wight
The origin of the railways was as a series of private companies given permission to build by Parliament. But in the 20th century, war, economic factors, and the rise of the automobile caused the railways to move between public and private management multiple times. Indeed, after many years of privatisation, the modern British rail network is currently moving back to public ownership under the banner of "Great British Railways" or GBR.
Public-isation of the 1960s did not go as well. The railway network consisted of mainline routes – those between major cities – and "branch" lines, which connected smaller towns and villages to the main line. The Beeching cuts (named for Dr. Richard Beeching) eliminated many of these branch lines, cutting off these smaller communities. One example is Lyme Regis, which used to be accessible by rail.
Station on the surviving Gunnislake branch line
Riding a train on the surviving Gunnislake branch line
I've had the opportunity to ride on some of the surviving branch lines, and they can feel like a step back in time. Gunnislake from the photos above is a great example, from Victorian-era stations to the point where the driver has to get out and take a physical token that allows him to go forward on the single-track railway.
The most famous extant branch line, though, has to be the one from Fort William to Mallaig, Scotland. It is unique in that it has both regular modern train services and also a regular steam train running on the route. The steam train is called the Jacobite, but you might know it better as the Hogwarts Express.
The Jacobite crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct
The Jacobite is far from the only place where you can still ride a steam locomotive in Britain, however. A remarkable thing happened with these old closed branch lines – enthusiasts began to restore them for leisure use. This combined with another major technological change: that from steam to diesel and electric. The first electric locomotive was a very early battery-operated prototype of 1837, and the technology continued to develop until the first electric-powered railway of 1881. Diesel was later, with the first locomotive in 1912, but was easier to implement without running an electricity source along the tracks. Steam locomotives were phased out on the British railway network, with the last official one running in 1968. Again, though, enthusiasts stepped in and saved many of them – some in a state where they could best be described as rust buckets rather than anything resembling a locomotive. The old branch lines became heritage railways, places where these steam locomotives and old train stock could be run on a regular basis.
Jane Austen's House Museum
I knew nothing about this in my first few trips to England. When I was researching a trip that included stops in Portsmouth and Alton (for Jane Austen's house museum in Chawton), I discovered that I could take a taxi from Portsmouth to Alresford and from there ride the Watercress Line, rather than connecting all the way back through London on the regular rail network. In the planning stages this just seemed to be a ridiculously British thing to do, to use a steam train as a legitimate leg of transportation.
I did not expect to be completely delighted by the Watercress Line, enjoying it every bit as much as I did Austen's house, which I had been longing to see for quite some time. How often is it that you discover something you love, while pursuing something else you love?
Watercress Line
Watercress Line
Ropley Station on the Watercress Line
There are probably hundreds of these heritage railways across Britain, and if I have a chance to fit one into my itinerary, I always do. It really feels like you're travelling back in time, and it impresses me that so many people are willing to put in the work to keep them all running.
North York Moors Railway
Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Isle of Wight Steam Railway
Epping-Ongar Railway
Epping-Ongar Railway
One of the things I love about steam railways is the smell of the coal smoke. This is not the most pleasant smell ever, but something about it has always been a weird sort of dopamine hit for me. It took me a long time to figure it out, but then I finally did:
Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad
My family used to go to Cedar Point every summer, and it remains one of my favourite places from childhood. What I finally remembered was that the park's railroad has operating steam locomotives, and that smell of coal smoke was a subconscious reminder of happy childhood memories. Great Britain is now my favourite place to travel, so it's almost as though the baton has been passed.
British ridiculousness being what it is, heritage railways are not the only options to ride on a steam-hauled train. Certain old locomotives (and one new one, Tornado) are rated for "mainline steam." Which is exactly what it sounds like – they can run at up to 75 miles per hour on the regular main train lines. So yeah, imagine you're standing on a platform waiting for your normal train to take you somewhere, and then this happens:
It is completely and utterly ludicrous, and I love it.
Once I knew about this, I determined I had to do it someday, and I actually booked a trip that would travel up the scenic Settle and Carlisle line. It was cancelled, however, and so I was keeping an eye out for another opportunity.
For those of you who know British railway history, it may have surprised you that I haven't mentioned Flying Scotsman yet. For everyone else, this is unarguably the most famous British locomotive. It was built in 1923, the heyday of British railway travel, and was the first locomotive in the world to officially reach 100 miles per hour (unofficially, this is arguable). The locomotive shares the name with the nonstop route from London to Edinburgh, which required a special coal tender with a corridor inside so that drivers could be changed out, and water troughs on the tracks so it could pick up water as it went.
It's arguably the most famous locomotive in the world, having travelled to both Australia (where it set another record for the longest steam-hauled run) and the United States. It's been beloved for a very long time, although at times the funding for its survival was in question. In 2004, the National Railway Museum purchased it and began a restoration program to ensure its survival, returning to the rails off and on until 2022, when it went in for another overhaul in anticipation of its 2023 100-year anniversary. Part of that was seeing it rated again for mainline steam.
Through absolute, sheer, wonderful luck, I happened to have a trip planned to England during these events, and the Cardiff Express excursion train fell within my dates. These excursions sold out quickly, but because I was already signed up for the email newsletter, I saw it and booked immediately.
It will remain one of the most wonderful and emotional experiences of my life.
I expected the time travel feeling of boarding the train at Paddington Station in London and the excitement of being able to see the Flying Scotsman up close. I expected sitting in an old, restored train carriage and careening along at 75 miles an hour on the mainline. What I was not prepared for is the absolute love British people showed this train along the route. There were the railway enthusiasts with their tripods and cameras, but many people were just standing in fields or on overpasses, waving to the train as it went past. Even the railway workers were stopping to snap a photo on their phones.
Crowds at Cardiff
Snapping a photo as the train passed
Close-up of the nameplate
I remember thinking as we were in the final hours of the journey, rolling through fields touched by the glow of golden hour, that it was a day I would remember for the rest of my life. For those of you who have read the beta of A Dangerous Connection, I channeled my memories of that day into George Darcy's emotions during the Rainhill Trials.
Flying Scotsman might be nearly a century newer than Rocket, but the emotion these tremendous machines rouse hasn't changed. Actress Fanny Kemble, building on George Stephenson's own horse analogy for Rocket, described it thus:
“She goes upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons; these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is applied to the common extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of these pistons, the faster they move the wheels...the reins, bit and bridle of this wonderful beast is a small steel handle, which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a child might manage it.”
George Darcy uses the phrase "tremendous machine" to describe Rocket, and this was an intentional phrase on my part. Certainly there have been other locomotives that are more powerful, but Flying Scotsman at speed seems very much reminiscent of a thoroughbred racehorse to me. So I took a phrase used for the most famous thoroughbred race horse of all time, and applied it back to an actual machine:
"Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine!"
And with that, I will leave you with some footage of Flying Scotsman on that Cardiff trip. It is indeed a tremendous machine.
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