UK Rail and Trains

London Paddington Station

I did a cross EU/UK trip in May of 2022. Was taken aback by the sheer size and number of tracks at this station.

First of a series of photos I'll be posting occasionally!

@rail #interrail #train #rail #TransportForLondon #London #Paddington

"I've got a model railway that runs all the way around my flat," says TikTok trainspotter Francis Bourgeois.

This admission will make perfect sense, and perhaps bring a grin, to the millions who follow the 23-year-old on social media.

For those less familiar, he's a unique kind of internet celebrity.

His trainspotting reaction videos, showing his uncontainable, wholesome excitement as locomotives fly by, appeared to touch people during the pandemic, with comments underneath regularly pointing to the dose of joy he provided.

Now, boasting a combined five million plus followers across TikTok and Instagram, life is busy.

Celebrities including singer Joe Jonas and retired footballer Thierry Henry have starred in his videos, there's a book to his name, and fashion partnerships, Gucci included. Oh, and a live onstage appearance at a Sam Fender gig.

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Now he is set to front his full-length solo TV debut for the BBC Travel Show.

The adventure sees him travel nearly 900 miles, making 87 train stops over five days, riding exclusively on British Railway rolling stock.

Under the chalk cliffs east of Folkestone sits the Warren, a coastal wilderness largely owned by the railway, hosting a nature trail for walkers, as well as the Victorian rail line that runs on to Dover.

It is also, problematically for Network Rail, an active landslide. “Our monitoring here,” says Derek Butcher, principal geotechnical engineer for the southern region, “shows we’re actually moving ever closer to France – despite Brexit.”

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The Warren is just one of many risk sites. Unprecedented rainfall in the last 18 months – hot on the heels of record-breaking summer heat – has in every sense shifted the ground for the railway. Resilience to extreme weather of all kinds is a preoccupation in planning.

The kind of money that not long ago would have electrified a railway line is now going, in large part, down the drains. Network Rail has dedicated £2.8bn in the next five years simply to bolster Britain’s tracks against the changing climate – and its leaders have warned that it may never be enough to save all the routes that exist today.

Teenagers will be able to qualify to drive trains on Britain's railways under new proposals.

The government is asking for views on reducing the minimum age from 20 to 18, in a consultation running until 13 June.

The number of train drivers due to retire in the next five years has prompted concerns of a shortage. Their average age at the moment is 48.

The Department for Transport said the plan would "build resilience".

School leavers would be able to take up apprenticeships to become drivers.

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The idea was welcomed by industry groups and the main train drivers' union, Aslef.

Ministers have repeatedly said they want operators to become less reliant on rest day working - overtime days - to fulfil schedules.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the union had always been in favour of lowering the age drivers can start training. He said it believed "there should be enough drivers to cover all the available shifts", and did not agree with reliance on rest day working and overtime.

Mr Whelan added: "Not only will [the plan] increase the number of drivers but we also believe that those at the pointy end of the train should reflect the communities they serve and that includes having young people in cabs".

The driver qualification process currently takes between one and two years.