Could a revival of railway camping holidays in a modern ‘railboat’ be a way of solving a number of issues on the rail network by using resources more effectively? A recent discovery on YouTube was a shipping container conversion into an easily transportable ‘Glamtainer‘, which in the video was loaded aboard a sideloader HGV (examplesContinue reading “‘Railboating’ as a fix for railway retention, reopening lines, and building railside paths?”
Category Archives: Rail
Ashville: An Advocate for Railfreight and the End of Ashville Weekly.
Today, Sunday 3rd August 2025, marks the final episode of the Ashville Weekly series by the Ashville channel on YouTube with episode 250 ‘The Last Dance’. I can’t remember the first time that YouTube suggested an Ashville video to me, but ever since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the weekly episodes, as well asContinue reading “Ashville: An Advocate for Railfreight and the End of Ashville Weekly.”
Snippets of info from ‘The Tyne Coal Keel’ by Adrian Osler
A recent loan from my local library has been ‘The Tyne Coal Keel’ (2022) by Adrian Osler, which whilst only partially read so far, is a fascinating book with some initial facts that, in my view, are clearly worth sharing more widely as part of the knowledge of these interesting small vessels that have long-sinceContinue reading “Snippets of info from ‘The Tyne Coal Keel’ by Adrian Osler”
Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange: Daft to Decline?
A new £750m railfreight interchange near Leicester, potentially creating up to 8000 jobs has been declined by the UK Government, which seems at real odds with the ‘pro-growth’ mantra of that same Government. Presumably, the financing of this scheme was to be made by its developers Tritax Symmetry, so wouldn’t be on the Government’s balanceContinue reading “Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange: Daft to Decline?”
Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps by Alan Hayward
In another case of ‘found by the YouTube algorithm’, an excellent video presentation titled ‘Alan Hayward on Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps‘, with a very large railway focus, but not exclusively so, watch it to find out more. The talk very much shows how structural engineering is a field that is of endless improvement;Continue reading “Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps by Alan Hayward”
Thoughts on railways around Northallerton: Wensleydale Railway towards Whitby?
This blog post is entirely my own view, not those of any organisations mentioned, it is purely intended as a ‘thinking aloud’ piece. This was inspired by a recent Facebook post about the little used section of the Wensleydale Railway between Leeming Bar, Northallerton West and the interconnection with the East Coast Main Line (ECML)Continue reading “Thoughts on railways around Northallerton: Wensleydale Railway towards Whitby?”
Railway200 around Tyneside; Tanfield300 & Bedlington400+ too?
With the Railway200 countdown clock ticking, and just over 100 days to go until 2025, the year being lauded as the 200th anniversary year from the birth of the ‘modern railway’ in 1825 with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington (S&D), maybe we also should celebrate the more than 200 years of ‘railway’ beforeContinue reading “Railway200 around Tyneside; Tanfield300 & Bedlington400+ too?”
Port of Blyth: Time for a Tunnel?
The Northumberland Line reopening, and particularly the new A1061 bridge replacing the level crossing at Newsham has sparked a lot of side conversation around the ‘Blyth Relief Road‘, which now centres around the proposal for 4.5km (2.8mi) dualling of the A1061 from the A189 ‘Three Horse Shoes’ to South Beach which skirts the southern edgeContinue reading “Port of Blyth: Time for a Tunnel?”
What if the Morpeth North Curve had been built by the Victorians? Part 1
The Morpeth North Curve was actually built in the late 1970’s and completed by 1980, finally providing a direct route between Pegswood and Hepscott, rather than reversal at Morpeth. According to Warn (1976 p.35/36) in his ‘Main Line Railways of Northumberland’ book, a curve was authorised in 1882 ‘to avoid reversing coal trains travelling fromContinue reading “What if the Morpeth North Curve had been built by the Victorians? Part 1”
Plessey Viaduct, Flying Scotsman and the Northumberland Loop
All of the below is purely my own opinions and doesn’t reflect that of any other organisations or persons. The ‘Northumberland Loop’ refers to the Blyth and Tyne lines north of Newcastle Upon Tyne that runs northward to Bedlington, Northumberland then west towards Morpeth and Pegswood. The Loop name is derived from the Northumberland LineContinue reading “Plessey Viaduct, Flying Scotsman and the Northumberland Loop”
Ryan Hogg 