This thread is for talking about railways, and things related to railways, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - that means we're all about big intercity trains, modest rural trains, long freight trains, trips, tracks, trams, subways, stations, you get the idea. Trains are cool.

If you're planning a journey, take a look at the nationalrail.co.uk/ journey planner - tell it where you're headed from and to, and it'll show you your options before handing you over to a train company so you can buy a ticket. Doesn't matter which train company, they'll all charge the same price for the same seat on the same journey. Overseas visitors - trip.com and thetrainline.com are your best option.

Here's a few links:
~New rolling stock currently on order, listed (trainlogger.co.uk/units/)
~A Visual History of Railway Rolling Stock in Great Britain (gaelan.me/br-stock/)
~The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com/) - easily the best rail travel resource out there.
~Geoff Marshall (youtube.com/@geofftech2) - likes trains. Mostly harmless.
~Jago Hazzard (youtube.com/@jagohazzard) - London train history. Ditto.

...and some cool 'open data' stuff:
~Realtimetrains (realtimetrains.co.uk/) - live train timetables: ideal for keeping on top of ETAs and platforms.
~Openrailwaymap (openrailwaymap.org/) - not quite 'Google Maps for railway infrastructure', but close.
~TIGER (https://tiger.worldline.global/home/) - live departure boards.
~Traksy (traksy.uk/live/) - live signalling information.
~London Underground Live (www.londonunderground.live/) - a real-time, geographically-accurate Tube map.

What's happening?
~The railway is being put into public ownership: gov.uk/guidance/great-british-railways/
~Phase One of High Speed 2 (Birmingham-London): hs2.org.uk/
~The Transpennine Route Upgrade - upgrading & electrifying the Liverpool-York mainline: thetrupgrade.co.uk/
~The Midland Main Line electrification (no website...)
~The East Coast Digital Programme: nextgenerationrailway.co.uk/