By 1915 Argentina had over 22,000 miles of railways. ibid.
Railways were responsible for the horrifying and iconic nature of warfare on the western front. ibid.
The train bore me away, through the monstrous scenery of slag-heaps, chimneys, piled scrap-iron, foul canals, paths of cindery mud criss-crossed by the prints of clogs. This was March, but the weather had been horribly cold and everywhere there were mounds of blackened snow. As we moved slowly through the outskirts of the town we passed row after row of little grey slum houses running at right angles to the embankment. At the back of one of the houses a young woman was kneeling on the stones, poking a stick up the leaden waste-pipe which ran from the sink inside and which I suppose was blocked. I had time to see everything about her – her sacking apron, her clumsy clogs, her arms reddened by the cold. She looked up as the train passed, and I was almost near enough to catch her eye. She had a round pale face, the usual exhausted face of the slum girl who is twenty-five and looks forty, thanks to miscarriages and drudgery; and it wore, for the second in which I saw it, the most desolate, hopeless expression I have ever-seen. It struck me then that we are mistaken when we say that ‘It isn’t the same for them as it would be for us,’ and that people bred in the slums can imagine nothing but the slums. For what I saw in her face was not the ignorant suffering of an animal. She knew well enough what was happening to her – understood as well as I did how dreadful a destiny it was to be kneeling there in the bitter cold, on the slimy stones of a slum backyard, poking a stick up a foul drain-pipe. George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier
Brighton. Early morning. And people are prepared to board Britain’s most notorious train. The train that never runs on time. Nick and Margaret: The Trouble With Our Trains, BBC 2015
Our commuter fairs are the highest in Europe. ibid.
The 7.29 from Brighton into Victoria never does arrive on time. ibid.
Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the electric train,
With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s
Daintily alights Elaine;
Hurries down the concrete station
With a frown of concentration,
Out into the outskirt’s edges
Keep alive our lost Elysium – rural Middlesex again. John Betjeman
Angry passengers from across Britain have sent their own stories to our special website A Journey from Hell. ‘That’s going to cost me £173 exactly’. ‘I’ve had trouble booking tickets’. A decade and a half on from privatisation we’ve ended up with a rail system part-private part-public that’s leeching billions of pounds from the taxpayer. We’ve got overcrowded trains, while passengers complain of an incomprehensible and rapacious ticketing system. The trains are said to be running on time: but are they really? I’m trying to find out what’s going on. But the train companies don’t seem too keen for me to film on the trains. Richard Wilson, Dispatches: Train Journeys From Hell 2011
The biggest government subsidy too ... the highest in Europe. ibid.
Nationally there has been a 40% increase in passenger numbers in the last decade. But less than a 10% increase in the number of trains. ibid.
‘I’ve paid £4,000 for mine. To stand.’ ibid. woman crouching in luggage rack
Richard Wilson: How often do you get a seat?
Man on Southern Trains: Never. ibid.
Richard Wilson: When did you last get a seat?
Woman: I honestly can’t remember. ibid.
When Which? Travel surveyed station staff and national rail enquiries about tickets, they said around half got the wrong information. ibid.
It’s a fairs free-for-all. ibid.
Jimmy Savile made it all so much easier when the trains were nationalised. ibid.
We’ve ended up effectively paying twice for the railways. ibid.
Manchester Victoria was voted the worst railway station in Britain. ibid.
This is such an annoying noise endured hour after hour. ibid.
There are other ways to improve punctuality figures: by building more time into the time-table, and without telling the passengers. ibid.
Some things I just don’t believe. ibid.
This is the Age of the Train. Jimmy Savile, Age of the Train advert
A train is only considered late at its final destination. Rochelle Turner
Long-distance trains are allowed ten minutes to be late and they are still considered to be on time; shorter-distance trains are allowed five minutes, and still considered on time. It’s a ridiculous thing. Rochelle Turner
The Transrapid’s electromagnetic technology enabled this remarkable train to complete the 20-mile journey in just under 8 minutes, travelling at a top speed of 270 miles an hour. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Venice-Simplon Orient Express is marketed as one of the world’s most luxurious rail journeys. With eighteen carriages from the 1920s and its very own champagne bar the train is an historic hotel on wheels. The World’s Most Famous Train, Channel 4 2016
The most popular route is from London to Venice. ibid.
With only bunk-beds to sleep in, and no Wi-fi and en-suite toilets. ibid.
Over £2,000 for a one-way trip to Venice. ibid.
The Venice-Simplon Orient Express begins its journey at Victoria Station in the heart of London ... A living recreation of the golden age of railway. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express I, Movies4men
Its inaugural run from Paris to Bucharest made in 1883 made headlines all over the world. ibid.
9The Simplon tunnel is over twelve miles long, and is in fact the longest railway tunnel in the world. ibid.
Travelling at over three hundred kilometres an hour the TGV is the pride of France’s highspeed railway. The World’s Fastest Train, National Geographic 2016
A faster model of the TGV called the AGV. The AGV will use 30% less energy but will carry more passengers at a greater speed. ibid.
Four key inventions ... 1) Stephenson’s rocket: this boiler has twenty-five pipes carrying the hot gasses from the furnace; 2) Mallard 202 km/h; 3) Shinkansen aka the Bullet Train 256 km/h 4) TGV: 575 km/h. ibid.
Goods wagons ... 1,124,812 owned by British Railways. Fully Fitted Freight, Talking Pictures 2016
We got a phone people from some people in Cricklewood … British Nuclear Fuels are about to park their trains at the end of our gardens. Mark Thomas Comedy Product s3e5, Channel 4 1999
Only 3 nuclear train derailments in 1998. ibid. protest banner
Every ninety minutes in this country someone gets hit by a train. George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
There’s a problem with our trains. They’re not working. Complaints, cancellations, delays, ticket-price increases have become a thorn in the side of train companies who transported more than a billion passengers in the UK last year. Jacques Peretti, The Passengers That Took on a Train Lines, BBC 2017
Five very different passengers on one busy commuter train have had enough and have agreed to take on the seemingly impossible. They’re going to attempt to bid for a franchise to run their own train-line. ibid.
South-eastern Rail which covers London, Kent and parts of East-Sussex had the lowest customer-service rating in the country last year. ibid.
It’s not an original idea: the 1950s Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt saw villagers take over their train-line. ibid.
For generations, one iconic steam-locomotive has symbolised all that was great about British engineering – the Flying Scotsman. Designed by one of Britain’s most gifted railway designers and built by a team of skilled workers, the Flying Scotsman was a perfect example of British engineering at its best. The Flying Scotsman: A Rail Romance, BBC 2017
It was out of this cauldron of heat and noise that the third of Nigel Gresley’s new class of super-locomotives emerged on 7th February 1923. ibid.
108,175. Models of Flying Scotsman help spread its reputation across the country. Toy manufacturers like Hornby and Bassett Lowke quickly found the Flying Scotsman became its most popular product. ibid.