On the 26th-27th September, Locomotion No. 1 returned to the Stockton-Darlington Railway to mark a historic milestone. Huge crowds turned out to celebrate 200 years of modern rail. So what next?
It may look like things have been quiet here at Enroute for the last few months, but in truth our volunteers are working hard behind-the-scenes on new projects, covering a range of topics from Green Infrastructure and Last Mile logistics to characterising poor connectivity and turning old railways into busways. But a big reason for the quiet appearance has been the fact that Harry and I – co-leads of Enroute – have been very busy in our day jobs. Harry’s role at Chiltern includes co-ordinating their part in celebrating Railway 200. So what’s been going on?
All year, train operators, heritage railways and other organisations have been celebrating the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton-Darlington Railway in 1825, the first – depending on your exact definition – truly modern railway line. This has included a unique touring train – a grand collaboration between Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group and the Railway Museum – showcasing the past, present and future of the rail network. Onboard you can find interactive exhibits, games, a sandbox, a wonderful promotion for career options in the rail industry, and a partner space showcasing different organisations everywhere the train stops. I was finally able to catch it myself in the Locomotion Museum at Shildon, a week before the big Locomotion No. 1 event in September.
A week later came the big showpiece event: Locomotion No. 1 (the original locomotive! But rebuilt. It’s a bit of a ship of Theseus. But I digress) retraced its first steps on the original railway (mostly). In Darlington, it was photographed next to a contemporary Azuma (specially positioned for the shot, because why not?). It was, of course, a momentous occasion. I will spare you the platitudes, as you’ve probably read a dozen versions of this already: It was a major milestone, what will the next 200 years bring, etc, etc. The two main takeaways I want to focus on are:
(1) What a fine thing it is that we value our railway history and heritage in the way we do – yet at the same time recognising them as modern, and relevant as ever to the future. If there was a 150th anniversary celebration 50 years ago, the tone may have been somewhat different.
(2) And look what we can do with cross-industry and cross-societal collaboration. This is the can-do spirit and joy we can, and should, bring into ‘business-as-usual’ on the railway.
Old and new, side-by-side. Photographed by Tim Dunn.
Cross-industry collaboration and a can-do attitude are also key themes in the Graduate Scheme I’m one year into at Network Rail – Strategy, Planning & Analysis. Like Harry, I’ve also been spending a lot of my time and energy on the day job. And indeed, my role in the rail industry places some reasonable limits on rail-related work I can do at Enroute. Without giving too much away, I’ve been involved in some interesting work within the Manchester & North West Transformation Programme, and HS2. I’ve also become more involved in the Young Rail Professionals, and outside of transport completely, I recently took a hard-hitting trip to Israel-Palestine with Yachad, a charity dedicated to promoting peace and understanding between Jews/Israelis and Palestinians. All in all, it’s been a very busy time for all of us, and even if things seem quiet on the Enroute front, we’re all still working through various means to promote and improve the railway and the wider sustainable transport network. And what better way of celebrating Railway 200 than that?
