Songwriter, record producer and publisher, Pete Waterman is also an avid train enthusiast, sharing an interest in model railways with Jools Holland and Rod Stewart. Before a career in music Pete worked for BR, but it was watching the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral following the war that sparked his love of model railway building.

Today he holds the world record for the biggest mobile model railway display, 999.90 metres of track that depict the West Coast Main Line between Rugby and Watford Junction.

Pete is president of the Railway Benefit Fund, one of Railway 200’s charities.

The railway isn’t just in Phil Hibberd’s blood; it’s in his DNA. The son of a railway engineer and a railway wages clerk who met at the local Railway Social Club, his ancestry in the railway industry can be traced back to the mid 19th Century.

It was in retirement that his father, Derek Hibberd, started to trace the family heritage. Finding links to the railway in Bombay and across the UK, one of the most sentimental links was to be found much much closer to home than anyone could have expected.

An accident on the track early in his railway career led Chris Leech to develop the first community education programme to reduce route crime on the rail network. The Track-Off campaign led to a 54% reduction in youth route crime across the UK.

Today he works with the Rebuilding Futures Alliance supporting people with previous convictions turn their lives around through training and employment in the railway.