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In this episode, Mr Hornby himself, Simon Kohler chats to Alasdair about his new book 'My life at Hornby' and his career at the model manufacturer.

Alasdair travel to Manchester to visit an exhibition put on by one of the most senior railway modelling societies in the world and young rail enthusiast Cynan Hughes reports from a grassroots model railway club exhibition in north Wales,

Sharon Gregory leaves her bike in the garage and a very looong day trip, to Scotland . And I catch up with one of the footplate crew of Locomotion number one, to hear his reflections on the 200th anniversary celebration runs on the Stockton & Darlington railway.

And his hats off to a Southern Railway train driver Matthew Staniforth who tells us how he spreads Christmas cheer to passengers!

Links to the Railways mentioned in this episode:

Simon Kohler 'My Hornby Life'

Manchester Model Railway Show

Colwyn Model Railway Club in Abergele, north Wales.

Southern Rail 'X' post about Driver Matthew Staniforth who wears his Christmas hat to spread cheer at what can be a difficult time for many.

Carnog Working Horses / Ceffylau Gwaith Carnog – specialist land management using horsepower

Locomotion Number 1

The Grand Finale of the Awdry Extravaganza in summer 2025 at the Talyllyn Railway.

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

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Welcome to this episode of Making Tracks Podcast with Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

In many episodes you will have heard us welcoming opportunities for young railway enthusiasts...so we thought we should practice what we preach and in this episode we welcome two teenage guest presenters. Rail enthusiasts , George Woodward and Cynan Hughes, accompanied of course by their parents and with all permissions given, went out to report for Making Tracks Railway Podcast

George reviews collections X and the Making Tracks layout at the Vale of Rheidol in Mid Wales and Cynan goes on board 'Inspiration' – the Railway 200 train as it stops off in North Wales

Sharon has been out in the border lands of England and Wales again on her Railway Rideouts, I hear about an ambitious community led scheme in Yorkshire to rehabilitate the currently disused Queensbury railway tunnel . I talk to Graham Bickerdike from the Queensbury Tunnel Society.

And Alasdair hears from some of those involved in a recent blockade of the London Hastings line about a part of the successful renewal scheme carried out by Network Rail in autumn 2025.

Links below to the Railways mentioned in this episode:

More dates announced for Railway 200 Inspiration Train in the UK as it becomes a runaway success!

Queensbury Tunnel Society

National Highways Queensbury Tunnel Information.

National Highways statement below in response to our interview aired on this podcast with the Queensbury Tunnel Society.

"We didn’t receive any money for the feasibility study.We are not infilling or demolishing the tunnel. We will be filling the open shafts and providing support under the shafts, but there’s an important difference between ‘filling in’ and ‘infilling’." The definition of the latter can be found here.

"We are due to meet with planners from the local authority in the coming months."

Tanat Valley Railway

Vale of Rhiedol Collection X

Pete Waterman's Making Tracks Model Railway Layout visits Vale of Rheidol

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

In this episode we’ll be visiting two national railway museums, in Utrecht and York, a gala event at the East Lancashire railway, and riding on standard and narrow gauge heritage lines, the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, run entirely by volunteers in Kent, and the STAR museum railway in the Netherlands, and along the way, discovering a replica broad gauge pioneer, running on rails 1945mm apart...

Links to all the railways and museums below:

Home Page - The East Lancashire Railway

Home of 80097 BR 4MT Restoration and Ivatt 46428 - Bury Standard 4 Group

The Class 56 Group – Class 56 Locomotive Preservation

National Railway Museum - York

Eurostar.com: Book Europe train tickets and holidays

Kom naar het Spoorwegmuseum | Het leukste station van Nederland - Dutch National Railway Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands

Home - Museumspoorlijn STAR - STAR Museum Railway, Stadskanaal, Netherlands

Sittingbourne and Kemsley Railway

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

In this episode of Making Tracks with Alasdair Stewart, Sharon Gregory and Laura Raymond, we’ll be visiting Welshpool and Llanfair Railway a rural, narrow gauge light railway, built to develop the economy of a marginal hinterland in Welsh border country, hear from competition winner George Woodward, who at 14 years old, got to try his hand on the regulator of a steam locomotive for the first time. George won a driver experience in a Facebook competition run by the Rudyard Lake Railway.

Sharon Gregory is riding the rails in Yorkshire and taking in a theatrical spectacle, and I talk to one of the team for responsible for maintaining preserved multiple units, at Hastings Diesels, that occasionally tours the national railway network from its depot on the south coast…..

Links to the Railways and events mentioned in this episode:

Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway

Sierra Leone National Railway Museum

Bishops Castle Railway - bcrailway.co.uk

The current run of the Railway Children at Keighley and Worth Valley Railway has sold out ( finished on Sept 7th 25 ) click here for link to the promo video for the event.

Rudyard Lake Railway Driver Experience Course ( the course included in our podcast had been won as a prize by our young person interviewed with no commercial link to this podcast)

Hastings Diesels Ltd

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

In this episode of Making Tracks we’ll take you behind the scenes of the 'Greatest Gathering' in Derby, England for a prestigious piece of the UK's Railway 200 celebrations. Engineer Alasdair Stewart meets some of those who made it happen, and speaks with a variety of people representing a fraction of the variety and scope of the UK railway family as the movement looks forward to the future.

All aboard for the Greatest Gathering!

Sharon Gregory goes on another 'Railway Rideout' to visit a rural tramway museum in the Glyn Valley in north East Wales.

Also in this episode, we pop along to a Rail Fair in the Sussex town of Lewes and chat to Nicholas Owen – the well-known broadcaster and former BBC and ITV newsreader. Away from the news desk, Nicholas has a lifelong passion for railways and is a dedicated volunteer on one of England’s pioneering electric railways. We’ll hear about his love of trains, his volunteering experiences, and what keeps him coming back to the rails.

On the way north to visit the Greatest Gathering, Alasdair passes through Kings Cross station – and between the statue of Sir Nigel Gresley and Platform 9 and 3 quarters…..visits an exhibition display of an LNER carriage of the future.

Links to all the events and railways mentioned in this episode below:

The Making Tracks Facebook page - please like our page and please do send any comments directly to Alasdair.

All Aboard The 'Train of the Future' | LNER

Glyn Valley Tramway - Museum at Glynceiriog

The Greatest Gathering Event Website including gallery

Enspired - Consultant engineers working to de-carbonise rail

Railway Challenge - IMechE

Loram - Leading the digital transformation of railway maintenance.

Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways Prince 1863 at Alstom Greatest Gathering

The Ashover Light Railway Society

DB Cargo UK opens new ETCS training facilities - Digital signalling.

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

Welcome aboard this episode of MAKING TRACKS RAILWAY PODCAST with Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory – no tickets are required to travel with us and there is no fare to pay!

In this episode we’ll be hearing from a teacher at one of Ukraine’s Childrens' Railways , an enthusiast and preservationist from Kiev tells me something of the current challenges in that country……Bill Parker of Flour Mill fame reflects on the two year working holiday of one of his engines in Transylvania, and the arrival of another industrial machine from further east;

Sharon Gregory visits a Manchester attraction with some similarities to the lauded ‘high line’ in New York City….

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts reveals an extraordinary statistic about her constituency in Wales and what relevance it has to the world of heritage railways, and Lord Faulkner is concerned that a law from the 1920s threatens to restrict the activities of youngsters on UK heritage railways. We also hear from historian and broadcaster Tim Dunn and Stephen Wiggs of New Europe Heritage Railway Trust, (NEHRT) a small British NGO that has forged links with a number of heritage railway organisations across Central & Eastern Europe since the end of communist rule more than thirty years ago. Alasdair also meets Mimmi Mickleson, President of FEDECRAIL whilst in Romania at a steam gala event featuring a locomotive that used to haul paper and wood pulp in Kent and has been on the Sibiu Agnita Railway in Transylvania for nearly two years.

Links to Railways and Organisations mentioned in this episode:

New Europe Heritage Railway Trust or NEHRT

FEDECRAIL - European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways

Read about the Lviv Children's Railway in Railway Supply online

Mocănita - Sibiu - Agnița - Romania

Castlefield Viaduct, Manchester

The Continental Railway Circle Facebook Page

You can contact Cristian Marinescu here:

and follow him on X @ x.com/AFeroviara for Romanian railway content

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

In this episode of Making Tracks with Alasdair Stewart, we hear cherished memories of growing up at a remote station house in rural north Wales from Lynette Tucker... daughter of John Harrison—fondly known as 'Lord North'. His great uncle, John Wills and his acquaintance with Bassett Lowke, who employed him to convert the #Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway from a derelict 3ft gauge railway to “15 “inch Gauge.

We also visit a uniquely gauged tramway in Devon, call in at the Telford Steam Railway where a truly whimsical narrow gauge steam tram has just returned to service alongside their conventional trains, and the famous resort of Blackpool as Sharon Gregory and her Railway Rideouts visit the seaside town. And we catch some of the 70th celebrations of the Ffestiniog Railway’s revival.

Links to the content mentioned in this episode.

Link to watch John Harrison on Steam is Everything 1975 You Tube

if you would like to contact Lynette Tucker regarding her father's memoirs she can be contacted on ltucker@ffwhr.com

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway

Fairbourne Railway

Blackpool Tramway

Blackpool Tramtown Museum

Seaton Trams

Telford Steam Railway

#FFWHR #Ravenglass #Telford #BassettLowke #Blackpooltrams #cavalcade

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.

Send us a text

In this Episode of Making Tracks, engineer and podcaster Alasdair Stewart learns about modern methods of marketing heritage railways with the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways' Osian Hughes. Helen Leslie explains how a museum is a fundamental part of the visitor experience at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in Porthmadog, and Sharon Gregory has been on tour on her motorbike visiting some of her favourite lines and meets the S4C TV dragons at the Talyllyn Railway on a week long ride-out across Wales.

#Gwili #Ffwhr #whhr #Talyllyn

The Gwilli Railway

The Talyllyn Railway

S4C Dreigiau Cadi - Chidren's TV show
The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway

This podcast is produced by Laura Raymond and presented by Alasdair Stewart and Sharon Gregory.

Our 'Making Tracks' music is with kind permission of composer and musician Richard Durrant. It is a unique piece inspired by the rhythm of the historic rolling stock on the Ffestiniog Railway on the scenic journey from Harbour Station to Tan y Blwch.

You can listen and download the full 'Tan y Bwlch' Ukulele Quartet here:

Thank you to voice artist David King - for the Railway Ride outs voice over.

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch"

Ukulele Quartet No. 1 "Tan y Bwlch" Richard Durrant · Single · 2019 · 3 songs.