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.

Senior curator at the National Railway Museum and Locomotion in Shildon, Anthony Coulls describes how the growth of the railway started to change human society, our diet, the economy, the concept of time, migration, the look of landscape and our national obsession with speed.

Find out more about major moments in the history of the railway on our timeline: https://railway200.co.uk/timeline/

Travel writer Monisha Rajesh describes her love of literally watching the world go by through the carriage window and how she watches and listens to people as she travels the world by rail on her life-affirming adventures.

Curator of the Railway Futures Gallery at the National Railway Museum, Rob curated the ‘Railway Firsts’ carriage that forms part of Inspiration, the mobile exhibition train, that is touring Britain as part of the Railway 200 celebrations.

The carriage celebrates the pioneering pedigree and innovation of the railway, while also highlighting landmark moments in the development of the railway.

Head of research at the National Railway Museum, Dr. Oli Betts describes how the railway’s rapid expansion in the United Kingdom started to change the cultural fabric of Victorian society, opening up huge opportunities. People started to commute and holiday by train. The rail network helped to connect the country.

This expansion and connection caught the eyes of investors and engineers from around the world. Oli explains how the railway crossed the great plains of North America, helped India develop pre and post-independence, and formed small pockets of pioneering British railway engineers around the world to transform peoples’ lives.

Railway enthusiast and volunteer Ziyad’s love for the railway started on the island of Sodor. Today Ziyad has taken his love for Thomas and friends into the real railway world at both Talyllyn and Didcot railways where he volunteers. What started as a passion with Thomas, Ziyad hopes will soon become a career.