Railway stories
Videos, voices, images and articles about the history of the railway from the 19th century to the present day.
Featured story: Navvies
Engineers may have designed the railways, but it was left to vast gangs of navvies to build them – the word 'navvy' came from the 'navigators' who built the first ‘navigation canals’ in the eighteenth century.
Navvies building the Underground Metropolitan Railway, 1863.
Credit: National Railway MuseumNavvies building the Underground Metropolitan Railway, 1863.
Credit: National Railway MuseumNavvies using a brickmaking machine during the construction of the Midland Railway's extension to St Pancras station 1865.
Credit: National Railway Museum
Railway voices
Listen to a selection of over 1000 hours of recollections from 20th century railway workers.
Your railway stories
Use our Flickr group to send us your photos and stories about going on holiday by train.
Railway posters
Railway art has always had a strong commercial element. As printed presses evolved, so did railway advertising.