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Wednesday 11 Jun 2025

Railway 200: Bookings open for unique exhibition train visiting London Paddington and the south west this winter

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Bookings have opened for visits to a unique exhibition train, part of a national celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the modern railway called Railway 200. 

The schedule for the train, named Inspiration, now covers 27 locations across England, Scotland and Wales to the end of the bicentenary year. The train opens to the public on 27 June at the Severn Valley Railway in Worcestershire and will criss-cross Britain for 12 months, visiting 60 locations and showcasing rail’s past, present and future.  The tour for 2026 will be unveiled later this year.

Free tickets to board the train are now available to book for 27 June to 17 August and registrations of interest are open here for visits from 23 August to 20 December 2025. Those who register their interest will be the first to be informed when new bookings open.

Curated in partnership with the National Railway Museum, Inspiration will be the only exhibition train on the rail network and will help to attract the next generation of pioneering talent to the railway.

Inspiration will comprise four eye-catching carriages.  Rail’s pioneering pedigree will be explored in a ‘Railway Firsts’ coach, highlighting landmark moments in rail’s development. Alongside will be a ‘Wonderlab on Wheels’, inviting visitors to test their engineering skills with hands-on exhibits.  Next will be a ‘Your Railway Future’ carriage, showcasing some of the more hidden roles in rail and encouraging people to join the railway to shape the next 200 years. The final coach is a ‘Partner Zone’, offering free, flexible exhibition space. 

The carriages are currently being fitted out, supported by a £250k grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

More than 200,000 people, including many schoolchildren, are expected to visit by prior booking. Admission to the train will be free, but normal entry charges to heritage railways and private sites where it is located will apply.

The train will visit the North East of England in September - rail’s 200^th anniversary month - as part of S&DR200, a nine-month international festival inspired by the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825, a journey that changed the world forever.

Bookings are now open for visits to:

Date	Destination
27 June - 6 July	Severn Valley Railway, Kidderminster, Worcestershire
8 - 10 July	Birmingham Moor Street station
12 - 15 July	London Euston station
18 - 19 July	London Waterloo station
20 – 21 July	Margate station, Kent
23 – 29 July	Bluebell Railway, Sussex
1 – 3 August	Alstom’s Litchurch Lane site, Derby (for The Greatest Gathering)
7 – 10 August	Norwich station, Norfolk
11 – 14 August	Lowestoft station, Suffolk
16 – 17 August	Freightliner Doncaster Railport, South Yorkshire
23 – 31 August	National Railway Museum, York (as part of the NRM’s 50th birthday)
10 – 17 Sept	Darlington station, County Durham (as part of S&DR200)
20 Sept – 1 Oct	Locomotion museum, Shildon, County Durham (as part of S&DR200)
4 October	Hitachi Open Day, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham
5 – 7 October	North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Grosmont
11 – 12 October	Glasgow Central station
13 – 14 October	Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway
16 – 17 October	Strathspey Railway
19 – 20 October	Aberdeen station
22 – 23 October	Edinburgh Waverley station
25 Oct – 2 Nov	Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, West Yorkshire (as part of Bradford UK City of Culture)
4 -7 November	Blackpool North station, Lancashire
24 - 29 November	West Somerset Railway, Bishops Lydeard
8 - 13 December	London Paddington station
14 -16 December	Southampton station
18 - 20 December	London Victoria station

Llandudno in North Wales will be added to the tour in November once dates are confirmed and further destinations in Wales are being explored for 2026. 

No passengers will be carried on the train as it travels to its exhibition sites.  Booked visits will begin at 10am and the last entry will be at 4pm. The train will close at 5pm. Visits are expected to last up to an hour.  A virtual tour of the exhibition experience is planned for those who are unable to visit in person.

Emma Roberts, programme manager for Railway 200, a cross-sector, Government-backed bicentenary campaign, said: “This special exhibition train is set to become a new, national visitor attraction, providing an unforgettable experience for hundreds of thousands of people across Britain, including many schoolchildren.  It will excite, enlighten, entertain and inspire them to take a fresh look at the railway, as part of its anniversary celebrations.”

Marcus Jones, Network Rail’s Western route director, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting Railway 200’s Inspiration train on our patch in the run up to Christmas, adding to the festive magic at London Paddington and visiting our friends at the West Somerset Railway.

“Our region is home to Brunel’s iconic railway and we look forward to sharing the history of train travel in Britain with visitors from across the country. A number of our stations mark significant birthdays in 2025, with both Reading and Bristol Temple Meads turning 185 in this 200^th anniversary year. With such a rich railway history, we’re proud to celebrate Railway 200, and look forward to seeing what the future brings.”

To book and find out more about Inspiration visit www.railway200.co.uk/inspiration

For more on Railway 200 and how to get involved visit www.railway200.co.uk