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Season 2025 – Talk 09 – London End
In ‘London End’ Tim Davies tells us about the arrival of the railways in London and the termini that the railway companies built.
To view the images that were included with this talk please click on an image below:
At the beginning:
On September 27th, 1825, the first passenger train travels on the Stockton to Darlington railway.
The organisers expect 300 passengers, however they carry between 450 and 600 people. Some travel in empty wagons, others on top of wagons full of coal. A man on horseback with a flag leads the train set. They reach a top speed of 15 mph. In Darlington there is a crowd of around 10,000 people to greet the train.
The railways, both in Britain and across the globe, have a pretty exciting first 150 years as they forge a new way of life, bring places closer together, bring fresh food from the countryside to the cities, and bring the whole of Britain into a single time zone.
These are days of excitement, with the Races to the North, the romance of named trains such as the Thames Clyde Express, the Atlantic Coast Express, the Bournemouth Belle, the Flying Scotsman, the Golden Arrow and many, many others, all pulled by crack steam locomotives.
The last 50 years:
There have been many technical innovations in rail travel over the last 50 years but to the travelling public the excitement has gone.
We are in a world of multiple unit trains, often with seats designed to quickly numb the body. No magnificent locomotives to haul us at speed, no clackety-clack of non-welded rail, no comfortable armchair seats in First Class.
Catering is mainly plastic food; at best something akin to that found on a short-haul aeroplane. Long gone are the days of the world beating British Railways breakfast.
Railway Cathedrals:
The London End of the tracks sees the building of 11 termini in the 38 years between 1836 and 1874, and then, after a 25 year pause, the very modest Marylebone.
Listen to Tim tell the story.
About this podcast:
This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Group.
This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Podchaser, Spotify, YouTube and others.
AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.
© The MrT Podcast Studio and Farnham u3a World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Group 2018 – 2026