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What’s in a Name?   Roger Lloyd in his 1951 book The Fascination of Railways wrote thus about engine names: ‘On the Great Western we have an endless series of castles, halls, courts and granges. The Southern specialises in admirals and shipping companies … also...

Thinking outside the Box Tunnel   In the Beginning was the Word, But there was also a tunnel at Box, Near where a young child christened Wilbert Lay awake in his bedroom, dreaming Of steam-powered words puffed along the gradient By straining freight trains and...

Dudbridge to Dublin?   In those far-off early days before the opening of the Severn Tunnel, when the main line to South Wales ran through Gloucester, and when the 1801 Act of Union incorporating Ireland into the United Kingdom was less than fifty years old, and...

Gloucester Quays and Making the Connections Start your walk by Phillpott’s Warehouse – No plaque mentions that Thomas Phillpotts Benefitted from some seven hundred enslaved people, Nearly three hundred of whom were shared ‘investments’ With Samuel Baker of...

Old King Coal My generation of boys saw steam as a hobby: We grew up with Ian Allan loco-spotting books, Gazing in wonder at the wreathes of smoke Curling through countryside and town, Enjoying November fogs: ‘No sun, no moon, No hint of noon …’ And we took a certain...

The Golden Valley I first visited Stroud on the train in the early 1960s, pulled by a 1400 class locomotive, 1463, I think. I would study my Ian Allan trainspotter’s book or read my history books until we reached Chalford, when I would stare, mesmerized by the beauty...