First glimpse of a refurbished CrossCountry Voyager at Leeds yesterday. First impressions are that...it's still a Voyager, but a bit more presentable 🙄

Sustainable travel campaigners have argued for this for decades. Dare we hope that the message is finally cutting through?

I’m thrilled to have finally sent off the manuscript for a new edition of Agnes Grey that I’ve produced for @oxunipress. Working with Anne’s novel has been utterly joyful - she is such a smart writer and woe betide those who underestimate the power of Agnes Grey.

Happy 226th Birthday to George Hudson, York's notorious 'Railway King', born #OTD in 1800 🥳

Interesting piece by @phillipspobrien.bsky.social

On #WorldBookDay we are celebrating the House of Lords Library, which turns 200 years old this year. The Library collection includes around 80,000 books, from a 1490 legal text to the latest titles in social science, international relations, economics and more.

The pushback against 'barebeaters' is gathering pace--and not a moment too soon. Surveys show that the silent majority--if you'll pardon the pun--find noise on public transport a nuisance. So when will bus and train operators follow suit? metro.co.uk/2026/03/04/m...

I smiled when I spotted this at Leeds this evening. That's a name with a long, proud history of railway usage! 😊

Nothing could better illustrate intellectual laziness of the far right than this feeble, unimaginative attempt to imitate Trump. It's the same laziness that leads them to reject 'woke' history, despite the overwhelming evidence to back it up. Original thought is clearly too much for them.

If all parties put up qualified tradespeople at the next election they could usefully turn over the next parliament to doing DIY.

An pleasant surprise at York this morning. It might be a controversial opinion, but I rather like the class 70s. They're not conventionally beautiful, but they're endearingly quirky.

Haunting to have written about internal US migration in 2023 and 2024, and to see this mass exodus in action within two years of that.

Bury: it's a town with a Peel 😉 I'm sure @victoriancommons.bsky.social will be pleased to see Sir Robert still standing proud in the town centre.

#OTD in 1804, Richard Trevithick's Penydarren locomotive successfully traversed the Merthyr Tramroad, South Wales—the first recorded journey by a railway locomotive. The word 'historic' is over-used, but this truly was. It was as revolutionary for the C19th as the internet has been for the C21st.

So, when was the last time a British Prince was held in custody? Was it these two?! 😬

Nevertheless, the Manners-Suttons refused to move out of the #SpeakersHouse for several months afterwards! Charles was the last Speaker to reside in the old Speaker's House before it was pulled down to make way for the construction of Sir Charles Barry's new House of Commons.

Waiting for my connection at Leeds and somebody's left the remains of a full-blown picnic in the waiting room. On what planet do people think this is acceptable? Did their parents or teachers never instill them with any consideration for others? I despair... 😣

Bravo to the authorities in India for cracking down on 'barebeating'. The silent majority—if you'll pardon the pun—find it a nuisance, and for autistic travellers like myself, it has a severe impact. So, why are UK PT operators (TfL excepted) still reluctant to act? metro.co.uk/2026/02/17/f...

When Sam Hirst teaches Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights, they often find the students who end up hating it are the ones who expect it to be a love story. Thanks to @romgothsam.bsky.social @drclaireocall.bsky.social @drmtremellen.bsky.social for speaking with me! time.com/7373005/wuth...

The funny thing about the pub culture is that Telegraph columnist love to preach about young people not being able to afford a deposit on a house, because of a daily coffee habit, but it's almost expected that adults should regularly go to a pub and spend £20-£30 a night 🙄

On the new #WutheringHeights film. I've co-curated an exhibition (Bronte Parsonage Museum) showing what the Bronte children read & wrote (they invented their own colonies) & how Wuthering Heights was inspired by their colonial reading material. www.bronte.org.uk/news/new-exh...

So...did anybody watch the One Show last night? 😁 It was a real pleasure to welcome Angela Ripon to the Brontë Parsonage Museum and speak to her about the forthcoming Wuthering Heights film.

Fascinating visit to the Royal Courts of Justice today with the Furniture History Society. Sadly, we couldn't take photos inside, but I can assure you we saw a great many interesting things!

Popped into the Railway Museum this afternoon. Great to see the South Yard miniature railway back in operation, and 26020 enjoying a moment in the limelight on the Great Hall turntable.

If you want to stop this because the price is too high in terms of commuting misery, impact on the heritage buildings, and placing the local community in the shadow of another tall building, please object here: Here's our helpful Guide: bit.ly/4jLWsim #SaveLiverpoolStreetStation

As a former Conservative, I've been saying this for years: the way for the party to broaden its appeal is to embrace One Nation policies, not to position themselves as Reform Lite. Trouble is, most of the party grassroots are Thatcherite neoloberals who can't seem to grasp this point.

A Scottish locomotive for #BurnsNight. A fine model of Caledonian Railway 'Dunalastair III' class 4-4-0 No. 902, spotted at the Manchester MRS show last December. The prototype was designed by J. F. McIntosh and built in 1899.

Happy Birthday to Sir John Vanbrugh, born #OTD in 1664! To mark the occasion, here's another picture from my visit to Castle Howard in July 2025. #vanbrugh #vanbrugh300 #georgianarchitecture #classicalarchitecture #castlehoward #baroquearchitecture #countryhouse #northyorkshire

💻 OBJECT: Our easy Guide to writing your own objection is here. People say it is really helpful. It takes minutes to do either online or by email: bit.ly/4jLWsim

Happy New Year everyone! Since 2026 is #vanbrugh300 year, let's start as we mean to go on...here's a flashback to my trip to Castle Howard in July last year. #castlehoward #georgianarchitecture #classicalarchitecture #baroquearchitecture #northyorkshire #vanbrugh #sirjohnvanbrugh

It's a wonderful object and I really hope a UK buyer comes forward. But it will be interesting to see whether we actually hear a murmur of protest from all the flag sh*ggers who made themselves so vocal over the summer... 🤨

'wE shOuld cancEL Hs2 anD speND thE moNEy oN LoCal traNspoRt', said all the NIMBYs. The reality is that we've cancelled HS2, and got nothing at all. Will those NIMBYs utter a word of complaint? Of course not, because they don't actually care about local transport, and they never did.

No, this was not 'simple rage'. This was Road Rage. When are we finally going to have a proper conversation about the appalling social cost of our car-dependent society--and ask what we can do to change it?

So apparently my train from Leeds this morning is cancelled due to 'severe weather conditions'. Presumably things must be worse further north, but the rain is no more than a shower here...which makes me wonder which engine was rostered to haul the train! 🙄😂

Travelling home by @tpexpress.bsky.social tonight and it's all a bit stressful. No seat reservation dockets have been put out--meaning that people with reservations are having to eject people who had no idea they were sitting in a reserved seat. Not satisfactory for either party.

Or in my case, spent ten years shouting at anti-HS2 NIMBYs and calling out their misinformation, whilst somehow picking up a few new friends along the way. Yet I do miss it, in a strange, indefinable sort of way...

Undoubtedly this particular situation could have been anticipated and better-managed, but I think it's symptomatic of a wider flaw in the post-Beeching railway network. Once upon a time, the railways had sidings full of spare carriages to cater for peaks in demand like summer Saturdays, Bank...

Next Wednesday 3-12 we are holding a joint seminar with @histparl.bsky.social! Join us at 17:30 at the @ihr.bsky.social or online via zoom to hear Dr Helen Wilson discuss ‘Black & Political: Black Political Participation in Britain, 1750-1850’. Register now! 👎 www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

'Hitler vows not to attack Poland and insists Munich plan can avert European war' 🤨

One of the metal plaques given to the Southern Railway (who operated Southampton Docks during the Second World War) by the U.S. Army who transported over two million American troops through the docks between D-Day and the end of the war. 1/4

Thinking out loud here. Are the Budget leaks incompetence, as the press is framing them...or is this a deliberate ploy by Reeves? Almost anything she does will be unpopular; but are the leaks her way of testing the waters, seeing how people react and what she can get away with? 🤔

Oh my. James Talarico is incredibly skilled in dismantling Christian Nationalists. Get this man in the Senate.

Proudly wearing my ear defenders on the train to work this morning. Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Do you have a steady hand and an eye for detail? We're looking for volunteers to help us with our conservation work! This is an exciting opportunity to help us look after the past for generations to come. If you're interested, get in touch at [email protected]

When Richard Tice says that it's 'ridiculous' for autistic children to wear ear defenders, what he really means is: 'schools shouldn't be spending money on adjustments for SEN children, because then my wealthy cronies would have to pay a few pence more in tax'.

Let's be clear what Richard Tice's REAL motive is for THAT comment about autism... 😩

Shut the f*** up, Richard Tice. Unless you have lived experience of autism, you do not have the right to tell autistic people what accommodations they do or don't need in order to cater for their sensory differences. No ifs. No buts. End of. www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

#Skystorians: can anybody suggest an *accurate* depiction of a Congreve rocket bombardment? There are plenty of paintings of the Battle of Fort McHenry, etc., but I can't help but suspect that many of them are naive and/or romanticised... 🤔 #militaryhistory #napoleonichistory

The Southampton Cenotaph was unveiled on this day in 1920. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, his Whitehall Cenotaph was unveiled in London five days later, on 11 November 1920. An iconic symbol of remembrance, the names of 3,298 Southampton men and women are now remembered here.