Train-spotter heaven

For anyone with an interest in the 200-year history of railway, England is the place to be this year. BRUCE HOLMES reports

The Ocean Mails Express was leaving Plymouth for London carrying bullion to finance the Suez Canal. It was May 9, 1904, and Edward VII was King of England. And all of that would matter little, but for the fact that something remarkable was about to occur.

The steam locomotive hauling the train was the City of Truro, and as it roared down a slope in Somerset it became the first train to break the 100 miles an hour barrier, reaching a top speed of 102mph (164km/h).

A hundred years earlier a steam-driven engine first hauled a load along rails. That was in 1804 when inventor Richard Trevithick's locomotive transported 10 tonnes of iron, 70 passengers and five wagons 14.5km along a track at the Penydarren Ironworks in Wales.

"The engine moves forth 9 feet [2.74m] every stroak. The publick is much taken up with it," he wrote.

Those two significant anniversaries will see celebrations held throughout England this year. The biggest, Railfest, will be held on a site next to the National Railway Museum at York in England's north from May 29 till June 6.

There'll be entertainment, documentary films, the Great Railway Bazaar and train rides.

The City of Truro, the replica Rocket and the world's oldest operating narrow-gauge engine, Prince, from Wales, will all be engaged in steam-hauling rides on a special track.

The original Rocket was built by George Stephenson and son Robert for a competition in 1829 to find the best way to haul a train from Liverpool to Manchester, and won easily, reaching speeds of 30mph (48km/h).

Railfest exhibits will be organised by themes, from the Dawn of the Railways featuring the replicas of the Penydarren and Rocket, to the Victorian and Edwardian Heyday, locomotives from the Inter-war Years, such as Olton Hall, the 1937 engine that starred as "Hogwarts Express" in the Harry Potter films, and the Rail Future section featuring the Pendolino tilting train.

But you don't need to go to the Railfest to savour the glories of rail.

The marvellous National Railway Museum, centrepiece of the celebrations, is worth a visit at any time.

One of York's most popular tourist destinations, European Museum of the Year 2001, and the largest of its kind in the world, it attracts 740,000 visitors each year.

The museum's on-site locomotive collection numbers 59. The Great Hall features legends such as the Stirling Single, whose huge driving wheels made it one of the world's fastest in the 1870s, the Chinese locomotive which at 4.5m tall and 28m long is too big for Britain's railways, and the Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built for British Rail, in 1960.

"Which one's this?" I asked one of the attendants.

Pointing proudly to the streamlined engine in blue racing colours, he said: "This is the Mallard."

What ignorance I had to profess. But sensing that I needed the story, he continued: "It was July 3, 1938. They were testing a new braking system, so the owner Sir Nigel Gresley gave his man the word. Driver Joe Duddington needed no further encouragement and urged the Mallard on. They said the engineers were praying, and they didn't just mean for the record. She hit 126mph [202km/h], a world steam record that still stands."

Fascinated with speed but thinking everything's British? Inspect the train that revolutionised high-speed land travel in Japan, the Shinkansen bullet train, built in 1976 and presented to the museum in 2001 after 10.5 million km of service at speeds over 225km/h.

After the Great Hall there's the Warehouse.

With 5000 items of memorabilia, it has everything you could imagine to do with railways. Silverware settings, gold and ivory travel passes, nameplates from locomotives and stations, model trains and even the Platform 9 sign from the Harry Potter movies.

With all those engines on display at the museum you'd think there might not be any left to ride the railways of England. Wrong. The museum has 37 engines out on loan and three on tour.

I was lucky enough to experience the excitement of seeing a steam engine on the main line.

Walking the Yorkshire Dales with guides John and Pete from Knobbly Stick, I was amazed to see 30 people on the hillside, many with cameras ready. I wondered why the wild moorland was so crowded till John asked a camera-toting, out-of-breath fellow what the fuss was about.

"Steam train," he gasped, "it's overdue."

With John and Pete urging me on, I made the top just in time.

"Here she comes," one train-spotter called excitedly. At which the Class 8F locomotive 48151 charged across the arches of the spectacular Ribblehead Viaduct.

Camera shutters clicked wildly but in moments the train had gone and so had the crowd, so we were left to inspect other features of the 125-year-old Settle-Carlisle line, from dark Blea Moor tunnel to the colourful vintage signal box.

A few days later we rode a railway which most people would find familiar - the North Yorkshire Moors Railway - even though the name may not ring a bell.

Our steam-hauled journey started from Pickering and we soon entered the North York Moors National Park before reaching Levisham.

As the engine let off steam on that grey day, I realised that it had been a fitting setting for Poirot and Sherlock Holmes as well as Harry Potter and the TV series Heartbeat, and doubtless many others besides.

Leaving the train en route, we stopped for lunch at Goathland and headed for the Goathland Hotel (or, for fans of Heartbeat, the Aidensfield Arms), across the street from the "Aidensfield" garage.

After lunch everyone waited with cameras poised to capture the excitement of the 1954 BR Class 80135 steaming into the station.

Last stop before returning was Grosmont, whose station epitomised the railway era with its mechanical signals and the nearby 1836 tunnel built by George Stephenson for the horse-drawn railway.

From the steam-shrouded platform we watched our locomotive shunting back in readiness for the return journey.

At day's end, pulling into Pickering, there was time to consider our 200-year history since Richard Trevithick's invention brought the advent of steam-hauled railways.

How times have changed since Trevithick was moved to exclaim: "I have been branded with folly and madness for attempting what the world calls impossibilities."

* National Railway Museum and Railfest 2004

* Settle-Carlisle Railway: The regular service is diesel-hauled but the website includes links to steam charters.

* Guided walks in the area

* North Yorkshire Moors Railway

* Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, a picturesque line just south of Windermere in the Lake District

* South Tynedale Railway, in the scenic South Tyne valley between Alston and Kirkhaugh