'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

The Greatest Gathering, Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd August 2025
Alstom's Litchurch Lane Works, Derby.

As part of this year’s Railway 200 celebrations, Alstom’s historic Derby Litchurch Lane Works will be front and centre, as it hosts the largest temporary gathering of trains and rail-related exhibits in a generation.

This three-day festival will feature more than 50 iconic vehicles from the past, present and future of the railways, and marks the first time in over 50 years that the train factory has been open to the general public.

Derby Litchurch Lane is one of the world’s largest rolling stock factories, and the only UK^▸ (United Kingdom) facility that designs, engineers, builds and tests trains for domestic and export markets. The factory was opened by the Midland Railway in 1876 and the city of Derby has been building trains continually since 1839. In 2022, Derby was chosen by the Government as the home of Great British Railways following a vote by the public between contender cities.

https://www.alstom.com/greatest-gathering

Tickets went on sale today but the sale has been suspended for the time being due to heavy traffic. Ticket sales will resume next week (from 3rd Feb 2025). Keep an eye on the link above.

[ChrisB]

Huh? The presumably heavy traffic will simply reappear at the new on sale date....

[ChrisB]

From Rail

Avanti West Coast to challenge West Coast Main Line journey record as part of Railway 200

Avanti West Coast will attempt to break the long-standing record between London and Glasgow as part of Railway 200.

The record of 3 hours 52 minutes and 40 seconds was set by the Advanced Passenger Train back in 1984. However, it was allowed to travel at speeds in excess of the current speed limit of 125mph.

The record attempt was announced at the launch event for Alstom’s Great Gathering event, which will take place in August this year.

Andy Mellors, MD for Avanti West Coast said: “I can reveal that working with our industry partners we are going to be running a train from London to Glasgow with the intention of breaking the forty-year-old record set by the Advanced Passenger Train”

A previous attempt at the record happened on June 17, 2021, when Pendolino 390044 fell short by just 21 seconds. The average speed on that occasion was 103mph for the 400-mile journey.

It’s also been revealed that the train earmarked for the attempt will be 390016, which has only nine cars and an excellent acceleration profile. It’s been specially renamed ‘Railway 200’ ahead of the event, and renumbered to 390200.

Mellors added: “What better way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the railways with a record attempt.” It’s expected that passengers on the train will consist of 200 invited guests.

Although no date has been set for the record-breaking run, it’s thought most likely that it will happen sometime in the spring. The attempt at the record is just one of scores of Railway 200 events being staged around the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and across the world.

[Ralph Ayres]

“What better way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the railways with a record attempt.”

Am I being too negative to suggest things like getting the railway running reliably the rest of the time and making sure trains are long enough for the number of people using them?  Certainly the real critics (I'm thinking of the "HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is an extravagance as it's just shaving 15 minutes off the London-Birmingham time" brigade) will not be impressed by a one-off publicity exercise when there is still much to criticise. 

[grahame]

Bookings opened today for the big event .... and were suspended soon after with "Bad Gateway" errors.   As an educated guess, someone had not put a sufficient number of worker systems behind the receptionist .... wouldn't make that mistake with the Coffee Shop

[grahame]

Certainly the real critics (I'm thinking of the "HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is an extravagance as it's just shaving 15 minutes off the London-Birmingham time" brigade) will not be impressed by a one-off publicity exercise when there is still much to criticise. 

You are correct - but then those who are principled anti will always look for things to criticise ... and it is not an [either/or] between one of publicity and getting the base system right - both can and should be done in parallel.