Next year is a significant milestone for the railway industry, and society. 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of rail, which began with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in September 1825. A cross-industry organisation, Railway 200, set up to co-ordinate and highlight the anniversary year...
A new tourist steam train, the Revolution Express, is expected to start operating day trips in central Vietnam in late 2024 or early 2025. Two original steam locomotives from the 1960s have been lovingly restored to working condition. The locomotives will pull two fully appointed retro-styled carriages...
From tomorrow there’s a new way to travel to the Grand Canyon in style. The Rail Baron Charter, a private luxury train comprised of three 1940s and 1950s railcars, will be operating on the Grand Canyon Railway. The train set comprises The Kansas – a rear open-aired...
Restrictions on domestic coal burning proposed in the UK Government’s consultation on Clean Air Strategy published in January this year, pose a problem for heritage railways. Everybody* recognises the urgent need to reduce our use of fossil fuels, but, as the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) Board Member, Chris...
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) will be running a magical illuminated steam train in the build up to Christmas. Not only will the Northern Lights Express be lit up, but so too will be parts of the forest that it runs through. https://mechtraveller.com/Extracurricular/Northern_Lights_Express.mp4 The spectacular...
On Tuesday night, the world’s largest steam locomotive, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. X4014, returned to life¹, and yesterday it made its first test run in preparation for a steam locomotive “race” starting tomorrow. Both of Union Pacific’s historic steam locomotives – Big Boy No. 4014 and...
This summer, The Steam Dreams Rail Co. is launching The Royal Windsor Steam Express, the first regular steam train service in recent history from London Waterloo to Windsor. The service will leave Waterloo at 08.02, 11.10 and 14.10 every Tuesday, June 4th – September 3rd. There will...
The operational history of HMS Warrior 1860¹, the world’s first iron-hulled, armoured warship was both dull and brief, and that’s what makes her so interesting, because when launched she was, without question, the most powerful warship afloat. So how come she never distinguished herself in action? Well,...
The Museum of Industry and Railways in Silesia will be hosting its annual ‘Steam Gala’ next week. This will be the 7th Steam Gala featuring historic steam engines from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. Last year over 15,000 visitors came to see, touch and experience these...
The Fairburn steam crane, named after its designer William Fairbairn, is a masterpiece of engineering. It was built in Bristol docks in 1878 to lift heavy loads (up to 35 tons), which it did for 95 years. It has now been restored and is a Scheduled Ancient...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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