This is the ancient trackway of Diolkos, in Corinth, Greece. Archaeologists say it was built at end of the 7th or the start of 6th Century BCE. It enabled ships to avoid the 190 mile trip around the Peloponnesian Peninsula, including the treacherous Capes of Matapan and Maleas. Ancient writers referred to the stone roadway… Read More The first permanent way?
One of the more recently built metro systems in Europe, the 4 line network in Bulgaria’s capital city first opened in January 1998. It currently consists of 4 standard gauge lines with 47 stations, carrying over 300,000 people each day. There’s also an extensive tram network in Sofia, although this hasn’t been enlarged since 1995… Read More Sofia Metro System
A recent visit to Hungary meant I was able to take a look at some of the countries railway heritage. There is a lot on offer, and sadly some of it I didn’t have time to see and some of it was closed due to the time of year – November & December. There’s several… Read More Railway Heritage in Hungary
The extensive network of public transport in Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, includes the usual trams, buses and suburban railways, along with a rack railway and cable car. Another unique feature of Zurich’s network is the S10 line, which climbs 6.5 miles (10km) to an elevation of 2671ft (814m) on the Uetliberg mountain. Opened in 1875… Read More Uetliberg. The S Bahn on the Mountain
The Wye Valley line ran from Chepstow to Monmouth Troy station, skirting the river and the Wales-England border. A small branch went off to Coleford. The line opened in 1874 and closed to passengers in 1959, with stone traffic from Tidenham quarry continuing until 1992 Today there are still plenty of remaining features visible, the… Read More The Wye Valley Railway
Innotrans, the world’s largest transport trade show took place again last week, At the Messe Berlin exhibition centre, for the first time since 2018. Usually held biannually, it was cancelled twice due to Covid.The 4 day event sees over 140,000 transport industry visitors from 140 countries, and almost 3000 trade stalls.Amongst those with a large… Read More New Transport For Wales Flirt trains & trams at Innotrans
New film on the Armagh rail diaster. Making this was an interesting illustration of how little survives of some railways like GNRI, including artifacts & photos. So various images of other railways had to be used purely to illustrate the film. There’s a detailed history here, including some of the accident reports. And this is… Read More The Armagh Rail Disaster
The Glasgow Subway is getting a major upgrade over the next two years, with a fleet of 17 new trains. They are expected to be in service in 2023 as part of a £288m upgrade plan including platform edge doors, tunnel improvements and resignalling, and will be the first trains to operate in the UK… Read More New trains for the Clockwork Orange
How far can you get by rail across Europe in 1 to 5 hours? This is a very cool and useful tool. It shows you how far you can get by rail in 1-5 hours across Europe from large towns & cities. Certainly shows the big differences between countries and their provision of high speed… Read More Five hours on a train
A vintage Walton Films Super 8 film entitled “Railway Scrapbook”, just uploaded to Youtube. It includes the last days of the Mumbles Railway, the Festiniog Railway Centenary, Flying Scotsman being purchased by Alan Pegler, and more. Thanks for reading. Check out my other posts on travel, heritage railways and more.Please click like and subscribe for… Read More Archive film, Railway Scrapbook
Random Railways 