It's Rail Week again, which means we are being joined by another illustrious Young Rail Professional to talk about the skills gap... And we are pleased to have the national chair of the YRP himself on this week's show! George Chilcott will be talking to us about the continued threats to our industry's skills base, and we'll see if anything has changed since Harriet Glen joined us a year ago. As ever, it is an open session so do ask us anything by joining LIVE on Wednesday at 7pm! Enjoyed this? P...
Oct 06, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 83
This week's #RailNatter is going to be a real treat... Chris Valkoinen from the National Railway Museum is joining us to talk about his new book: "Railways: A History In Drawings" - he'll also be guiding us through the history of technical drawing with the aid of some stunning images... An episode not to be missed - join LIVE on Weds at 7pm! If you want to buy your own copy of the book, follow this link and use the discount code shared in the video to get 25% off: https://thamesandhudson.com/rai...
Sep 29, 2021•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 82
Garry Keenor is back to talk about electrification! The new digital edition of the #OLEBook (Overhead Line Electrification for Railways, 6th Edition) is out, and the physical copies are close behind... For this week's #RailNatter , Garry will take us through the book, talking about how it came about, what it covers, what's in the new edition and how to get hold of it... The digital copy is still free, folks! Catch us LIVE at 7pm on Wednesday to ask all your electrification questions! Download th...
Sep 22, 2021•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 81
This week's #RailNatter is looking at the link between High Speed 1 and Britain's future High Speed 2 - or rather, why there isn't going to be one (yet). We'll look at past plans for the link, including one that involved a major new underground station at King's Cross. We'll also explore why, without a through station in central London, a link isn't actually a great idea. We'll even look at what a future link might sensibly look like! Join us at 7pm on Wednesday - as it's an HS2 episode you'll w...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 80
It's all very well moaning about Beeching, but have you ever ACTUALLY read the infamous report? Well, after this week's #RailNatter , you'll be able to say you have! Is it pure evil etched in paper? Did it spell doom for Britain's railways? Did it actually represent the only time anyone in power actually decided to answer the question "what are Britain's railways for"? It's a classic #RailNatter page-turn, so do join LIVE to shout things at me! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNa...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 79
I’m back in the National Railway Museum North Shed at long last! Tonight’s #RailNatter brings you all a challenge: can I talk unscripted for an entire hour in the North Shed? Will I survive microphone malfunctions, battery overheating and a general lack of oxygen to bring you a non-stop hour of treats? See what you need to do to visit the museum (you still need to book ahead): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQYmi… Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/ga...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 1
It’s another on-location #RailNatter ! Join me and a motley crew as we explore one of Europe’s largest construction sites – High Speed 2’s Chalfont Lane staging point for the construction of not one, not two, not three but FOUR record-breaking things: the UK’s first and second longest railway tunnels, the UK’s longest railway viaduct, and Europe’s largest chalk habitat regeneration project. This episode will look in detail at the HS2 Chiltern Tunnels, getting up close and personal with a tunnel ...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 2
This week’s #RailNatter is an utter delight, with Bessie Matthews joining us to talk about her role on the railway and her incredible (and wonderfully artistic) efforts to raise money for Samaritans by making the most of a big bag (and later a much littler bag) of ballast… Join in LIVE(ish) at 7pm on Wednesday! Find out more about Samaritans here: https://www.samaritans.org/ Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me vi...
Aug 18, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 75
PART TWO The UK government has FINALLY released their Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and in this week’s #RailNatter we’ll be looking at whether it’s worth the paper it hasn’t been printed on… I have so many questions that need answering, frankly. It’s a classic page-turn, and you can see what whent on in the live chat on YouTube . Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in t...
Aug 11, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 74
We’re getting back to our #RailNatter roots in this week’s episode, as I’ll be doing a mostly “big face” Q&A to talk about the e-Highway plans proposed by the UK government for trial on the M180 near Scunthorpe. Is putting catenary over a motorway a good idea? How will it actually work in practice? Is this yet another distraction technique for a government desperate not to actually invest in rail? Tune in LIVE to find out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreo...
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 73
The UK government has FINALLY released their Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and in this week’s #RailNatter we’ll be looking at whether it’s worth the paper it hasn’t been printed on… I have so many questions that need answering, frankly. It’s a classic page-turn, so do join LIVE to get involved! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the discussion at https://garethdenni...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 72
This week we’ve the pleasure of being joined by Iain Kitt, who will use British Transport Films to guide this #RailNatter through the story of rail freight’s twentieth century decline… We look at the key figures and establish if the common villains actually had anything to do with this trend, or whether there were bigger things at stake. Indeed, we explore how this is actually a story of innovation against almighty odds, and one that is now, ever so slowly, paying off again. Join LIVE to get inv...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 71
Right, well it is high time we had another proper live #RailNatter like the olden days, so your wish is my command… I’m back in the chair this week to talk about the Great Central Railway, why it was brilliant, why that doesn’t make it some form of panacea today, and to talk about how engineers choose between reusing existing alignments versus creating new ones. Join LIVE on Wednesday at 7pm! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loo...
Jul 14, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 70
This week’s episode is charging forwards at an increasing rate of knots, as Steve Wood guides us through the ways that we can make trains faster… And no, Hyperloop is not the answer! We cover the law of unintended consequences, bang the “the railway is a system” gong a few times, and point out that playing with the slow bits may well be far more useful than playing with the fast bits. We also touch on HS2 and get a signallers perspective on the beauty of Colton Junction! I’m properly on holiday ...
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 69
We’re back for a proper live #RailNatter episode, and this time Danny Scroggins is joining us to talk about the three generations of conventional signalling control and the three generations of conventional signalling interlocking… You’ve been asking for signalling episodes, so this one should really hit the spot! Join LIVE to ask your questions and get involved! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://pa...
Jun 30, 2021•2 hr 29 min•Ep. 69
Last week, the British rail industry returned to Long Marston after a year’s hiatus, as Rail Live 2021 kicked off… Whilst lots of us in the industry have been sorely missing the event, lots of you don’t get to visit at all, so I thought I’d dedicate a nice long episode towards showing you what it’s all about! First up, I walk through the site and give you an overview of what visiting is like, what sort of things you get to see and why it happens in the first place. Then I’ll pick out some things...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 67
Hello from the mid-Rail Live pub! As a result of my being down in Stratford-upon-Avon (recording next week’s #RailNatter !), this week’s episode is a pre-record and we are revisiting track gauge once more… Having established why standard track gauge is 4ft 8.5in, now we will spend an hour working out why it *isn’t* 4ft 8.5in! Do join in LIVE with the chatter as I’ll be dropping in to say hello! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw l...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 66
This week’s #RailNatter is picking up after our Welsh railway network episode ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyJBN… ) – and this time we are in SCOTLAND! What should the Scottish railway network actually look like? I’ll take a more analytical look at things and think about how our “algorithm” might be improved to create optimised and realistic rail networks entirely automatically… Join LIVE to have your say! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/gareth...
Jun 09, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 65
IT’S HERE! The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail has FINALLY been published, and we’ve had almost exactly a week of everyone shouting about it. But what does it actually say? What doesn’t it say? What is missing? Will it mean real positive change or more of the same? Well, in this beefy #RailNatter two-parter, we’ll be doing the now-traditional page-turn to attempt to answer all of these questions, and more… Join LIVE at the usual time to share your thoughts! Download the report here . Enjoyed this?...
Jun 02, 2021•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 64
IT’S HERE! The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail has FINALLY been published, and we’ve had almost exactly a week of everyone shouting about it. But what does it actually say? What doesn’t it say? What is missing? Will it mean real positive change or more of the same? Well, in this beefy #RailNatter two-parter, we’ll be doing the now-traditional page-turn to attempt to answer all of these questions, and more… Join LIVE at the usual time to share your thoughts! Download the report here: https://www.go...
May 26, 2021•1 hr 21 min
We’re diving back into the history of British DMUs in this week’s #RailNatter – and this time esteemed guest Dr Kevin Tennent and I will be setting our sights on the dreaded Pacer! Given these trains ran their final Welsh services last week, it felt like a good time to pick through the common myths surrounding them: first and foremost that their poor quality was a justified compromise to allow the “saving of rural railway lines”. It’s not true, and in this episode, we’ll tell you why!Join LIVE a...
May 19, 2021•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 62
This week’s episode of #RailNatter is diving into the government’s “Bus Back Better” report… That’s right, we’ve hopped over to the dark side! Is the paper any good? Do I actually agree with most or even all of it? There’s also A LOT of news to catch up on… Join LIVE on Weds at 7pm to go through it all! Download the report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publica… Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https:...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 61
Given that government is still prevaricating on the critical need to electrify Britain’s railways, this week’s #RailNatter is once again going to explore the question: why bother? A couple of weeks ago, RIA (the Rail Industry Association) published another report laying out the incontrovertible evidence supporting conventional electrification. With the aid of the facts and figures held within, we’ll topple every tired argument against electrification in turn. Join LIVE on Wednesday at 7pm to h...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 60
On the 12th August 2020, a High Speed Train derailed near Stonehaven, killing three people including the driver and conductor. With the RAIB having just published their interim report on the incident, this episode of #RailNatter is going to pick through and pull out the key findings thus far, exploring what we know and what we still don’t know. Join the discussion LIVE on Wednesday at 7pm (UK time). Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis ...
Apr 28, 2021•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 59
We’re doing an impersonation of WTYP this week… Because #RailNatter is going to unpick the tale of the Tesco tunnel collapse in Gerrards Cross! Why did the tunnel collapse? Why was that structural form chosen? Why was the tunnel needed at all? What even is Tescos? Join us LIVE to find out answers to all this and more! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the disc...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 58
It’s another Welsh episode! The Welsh railway network is a mess – in fact, there isn’t really a “Welsh” network at all, it is just a series of branches of the English one… In this week’s #RailNatter , we are discussing why that might be, how we might reverse that state of affairs, and – ultimately – what a useful and realistic Welsh railway network might actually look like! Join LIVE to have your say and to see what I think… Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://p...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 57
We are joined by not one but TWO guests in this week’s #RailNatter … Alistair Baldwin and Kelly Shuttleworth were the joint authors of the Institute for Government’s excellent paper “How governments use evidence to make transport policy” that was released in February, and I am very pleased to say that they will be joining us for a classic #RailNatter page-turn of that very report! Join us LIVE to ask your questions and share your thoughts! Download the paper here: https://www.instituteforgove...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 56
In a change to the previously advertised schedule, I’m filling in with a pre-record in this week’s #RailNatter (we’ll have our first dual-guest episode next week)… We’re covering the origins of “standard” track gauge! We’ll bust open the myths about horse’s bottoms and Romans (see also: the Space Shuttle episode) and look at the far more interesting reality of early railway infrastructure development – and not for the last time I am sure! Join LIVE(ish) to keep up to date with the chat, even i...
Apr 23, 2021•56 min•Ep. 55
This week’s #RailNatter is a return to the railway colouring-in book! In the previous Crayonista episode, we listed seven top tips for creating vaguely useful or realistic railway alignments. This time I’ll be jumping into Google Earth and looking in more detail at the process of actually creating sensible alignments using these top tips… Where are we linking up? Well, I will be attempting to add Wetherby back into the national rail network! Join LIVE to watch along and have your say! Enjoyed ...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 54
We’re flicking through another PDF on screen today, and this time it is the rather exciting Rail for All report created for the Scottish Greens. No other UK party has created a document like this in modern history – and the country is all the worse off for it. But does it hold up to scrutiny? Join LIVE to find out. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the discussio...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 53
