Sally Jones, an art teacher at East Riding College, talks about how her students have been inspired by Railway 200 to bring art deco into the 21st century using contemporary design techniques to re-imagine classic railway poster art in celebration of the railway in Beverley and Sheffield. As well as providing a colourful talking point and beautiful designs for the station walls, the resulting posters have given the students confidence, pride and self-belief.

You can see some of the students artwork here: Artwork inspired by famous British Railway posters unveiled at Beverley station - East Riding College

Karen Bennett, Education Team Leader at Community Rail Lancashire, shares the story of “200 stories of railway pride”, an anthology of 200 stories celebrating how inclusive the rail network is when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. Karen’s passion for working on the railways is infectious and her story shares her joy and genuine pride at the inclusivity of working in rail where she can be herself and be accepted.

Historian Dr Alexander Medcalf reflects on the inter-war years, a period when expectations of what travel by train could provide rose in line with the sleek marketing and glossy poster campaigns which served up beautiful, luxurious images of travel. We might reflect on the era as the golden era of train travel in the UK but behind the glossy images Alexander Medcalf reveals the moans and complaints which passengers levelled at the railways, from noisy children to arguments over seat reservations and people eating on the train!

Leabrooks Central is a unique, homebuilt replica railway station in Richard’s back garden.

The idea came after Richard bought his partner Katherine a model of a 3F Jinty steam train she used to ride on during her childhood. This led to building a track for it roll on and a station for it to halt in. The build grew and grew.

Their creation, which they have named "Leabrooks Central" has been adorned with model locomotives, a ticket desk, authentic posters and signage and a working clock, all in homage to Katherine’s family connection to the railway.

Bill shares the history and stories of the unique role of the British Transport Police. Created in September 1825 as a means to maintain law and order among some of the wilder elements of the navvies who built the railway, the transport police have enjoyed a colourful and important history, intricately interwoven with the evolution of the railways and the people who journey on them. In the first world war while officers joined up, women joined the force, making the railway police one of the first forces to recruit women.

Bill himself spent 30 years as a warranted officer before returning as a volunteer helping to educate school children but also playing a role in helping to train specialist explosives search dogs.

In the early morning of 22nd May 1915 a troop train carrying the 7th Battalion of The Royal Scots left Larbet for Liverpool. At Quintinshill, just north of Gretna, a local passenger train had been left on the mainline to allow a following express train to overtake it. It would normally have been held in a loop. The troop train barrelled into it and derailed onto the northbound line. Where a minute later the Glasgow bound express also collided into the crash scene.

216 people were killed including 12 Royal Scots. One of those Royal Scots was Private James McSherry, John’s Great Grandad.

The Quintinshill Rail Disaster remains the worst rail disaster on the UK rail network.

Mark Gardner from mental health charity Darlington Mind talks about how they’ve been inspired by Railway 200 to come up with a creative project where their clients and local art groups paint iconic local locomotives. Taking inspiration from the likes of Locomotion No. 1, The Mallard brick train sculpture and The Derwent, among others, the project has seen the paintings spread out across the town, communicating messages about both the town’s important place in railway history and the important place of the railway in mental wellbeing.

As a young boy Rufus found happiness travelling by rail. He watched and learnt from his mother who was studying for a MA about how the development of the railway started to impact the development of society. It led to the mass migration of people, the redesign of housing layout as places like Liverpool Street station enabled a much more mobile population.

As a rail industry leader today, he reflects on the wider impact of the development of the railway on both urban environments and transformational impact on entire nations.