#OnThisDay 145 years ago Stroud Green opened, 14 years after the GNR route from Finsbury Park to Edgware. It almost became part of the Tube network but sadly closed in 1954 and burned down in 1967, today you can walk through its site along Parkland Walk buff.ly/QTFTE0J

#OnThisDay 150 years ago, the East London Railway extended from Wapping to join the GER and Shadwell, Whitechapel, and Shoreditch stations opened. The latter (pictured, Ian Baker) became the passenger terminus upon electrification in 1913, then closed 2006 buff.ly/ejAAxWa

#OnThisDay #Magna stop on the South Yorkshire Supertram Tram-Train Line between Sheffield and Rotherham opens, the first new stop on the network since 2018. Here's an extract from my Rail Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland 16th edition crecy.co.uk/product/rail...

#OnThisDay 188 years ago Birmingham Curzon Street opened for trains as far as Rugby only; it was another 5 months before trains reached London. Regular passenger traffic ended 1854 when New Street opened, it will reopen in 203? for HS2: a VERY long hiatus! buff.ly/WqNTWgL

Good morning from TfL towers, have a great day ☀️

#OnThisDay 63 years ago the first trial public Automatic Train Operation (ATO) service commenced on The Underground. Not the Victoria Line, nor Central Line Woodford to Hainault, but Stamford Brook to Ravenscourt Park; a modified District Line R Stock train (pictured: LT Museum collection)

#OnThisDay Birmingham gains 3 new railway stations: Moseley Village (originally Moseley), Kings Heath, and Pineapple Road (originally Hazelwell): all closed January 1941. Here's an updated version of my Birmingham & West Midlands atlas buff.ly/I7JoJkc @crecyrail.bsky.social

#OnThisDay 40 years ago, all-day daily District Line commenced to Kensington Olympia. Mostly a shuttle to High Street Kensington; Trains 151 and 152. You'd do 8 round trips in 4 hours, many drivers hated them but I was a fan (maximum downtime!): Wulfruna buff.ly/rY72L0o

#OnThisDay 163 years ago Blackpool Central station opened. As can be seen on this aerial photo, the station (in the distance just in front of the Tower) and the associated carriage sidings in the foreground were vast. All that survived the 1964 closure was the toilet block!

#OnThisDay 55 years ago Highbury Vale goods yard closed, although the circuitous Northern City Line stock moves to/from Neasden Depot still reversed here until 1975 - one such move pictured here (Robert Gadson buff.ly/fmSENtV). The yard area is now Quill Street, N4

#OnThisDay 110 years ago three South London stations closed as a WW1 economy but never reopened: Walworth Road (pictured), Battersea Park Road, and Camberwell (subject to recent reopening studies). More info buff.ly/GPqJQfx buff.ly/QsfRhFR buff.ly/nryyeDg

This Easter weekend only you can buy my history of the St Ives Branch Line for just £15.00 if you order it direct from the publisher. www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-St-Ives-... #StIvesBranchLine #StIvesBranch #StIves @penandswordbooks.bsky.social

#OnThisDay 150 years ago the Birmingham West Suburban Railway opened between Kings Norton and a short-lived terminus at Granville Street. The two surviving stations are Selly Oak and Bournville (pictured: buff.ly/rM3hBZu), the latter famed for its Cadburys association

#OnThisDay 120 years ago the GWR & GCR joint line opened between Sudbury Hill Harrow and High Wycombe, along with West Ruislip, Denham, Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. West Ruislip is the setting for this 1984 photo: 'Leviathan' 50040 on a railtour buff.ly/YCr3GhG

#OnThisDay 125 years ago the Mallaig Extension Railway opened from Fort William to Mallaig, operated by the North British Railway. It contains a very well-photographed piece of railway infrastructure: the concrete Glenfinnan Viaduct. Two Minute Heroes buff.ly/x3Xj6Vo

#OnThisDay 45 years ago, my beloved CO/CP stock... or to the 4 year old me 'the red ones'... ran in normal service for the last time. With a makeshift chalk inscription and marker lights for High Street Ken, it awaits departure from Richmond. David Jones buff.ly/xwkIFpj

#OnThisDay 186 years ago Reading station was opened by the GWR as its temporary country terminus for 2 months, on an extension from Twyford. This dramatic rebuild and major layout improvements were opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. Janet Marshall LRPS buff.ly/K0B4VW4

#OnThisDay 41 years ago the final Merseyside Wirral Electrics Class 503 service ran. The first batch was built by the LMS in 1938, this driving trailer M29276M was one of the originals: looking anachronistic here in the relatively new Liverpool Loop Line buff.ly/CyUtbto

#OnThisDay 50 years ago the West Somerset Railway opened for regular tourist traffic as a heritage steam-worked line, initially from Minehead to Blue Anchor. The line from Taunton to Minehead had been closed by BR 4 January 1971. Image at Helwell Bay near Watchet: Geof Sheppard buff.ly/Z4DuMzP

#OnThisDay 18 years ago Heathrow Terminal 5 station opened on the Piccadilly Line and Heathrow Express. Hidden is the cavernous station box for the 'Airtrack' project which would have seen trains to Waterloo and Surrey, instead hopefully one day Western Rail Link trains will call.

#OnThisDay 115 years ago this single track connection between Waterloo and Waterloo East, crossing Waterloo concourse and traversed by a moveable platform, was closed after 44 years disuse. The bridge remains crossing Waterloo Road. Image from this article buff.ly/XexMj9x

#OnThisDay 92 years ago Osterley was re-sited west onto the new Great West Road and renamed from 'Osterley & Spring Grove'. The distinctive brick tower and concrete obelisk were designed by Stanley Heaps based on a preliminary Holden design. Keith Valla buff.ly/jHJ04Ql

#OnThisDay 57 years ago, Snow Hill Tunnel between Farringdon and Blackfriars closed. It reopened 19 years later as Thameslink and is now one of the most important rail links in London. A goods train passes the former Snow Hill station in 1954: R C Riley buff.ly/Zdqo1ck

#OnThisDay 135 years ago Peckham Coal yard was opened by the LNWR and Midland Railway. Situated east of Peckham Rye, there were sidings at viaduct level connected to others at ground level via a hoist. This is proposed to become a 'High Line'-type park: buff.ly/lthW2et

#OnThisDay 30 years ago the last train ran on the Croxley Green branch. There was no fanfare as it was intended to be a temporary suspension, official closure and replacement bus withdrawal was a whole 7 years later! 1989 image at Croxley Green: 15038 buff.ly/tMRqcTI

#OnThisDay 32 years ago the South Yorkshire Supertram opened between Fitzalan Square and Meadowhall in Sheffield, the second modern tram/light rail network with street running in the UK after Manchester. Video clip from the opening day: Nicholas Tozer buff.ly/taMwVq7

Find out more about the Isle of Wight’s old tube trains in my book “Ryde Rail”, available from @crecyrail.bsky.social or all good bookshops. crecy.co.uk/product/ryde... #RydeRail #IslandLine #IsleofWight

#OnThisDay 59 years ago the surviving Isle of Wight railways between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin reopened after electrification, service provided by ex-LT Standard Stock, reclassified Class 485 & 486 and already 40 years old. 1989 video clip: Nicholas Tozer buff.ly/tFVOKnD

#OnThisDay Darlaston and Willenhall stations reopened in the West Midlands after 61 years of closure, the first of 5 station openings in the region this spring. Freshly updated Rail Atlas of GB & Ireland from @crecyrail.bsky.social The 16th edition is available here: crecy.co.uk/product/rail...

#OnThisDay 35 years ago the Stansted Airport branch, station, and the new Foster Associates airport terminal opened, heralding the arrival of Stansted as London's third airport. Thames News footage of the Stansted Express launch at Liverpool Street buff.ly/uIbFsot

#OnThisDay 33 years ago, Cory oil terminal at Selsdon closed. The short branch into Selsdon's goods yard was all that remained of the Woodside to Selsdon route, closed in 1983. 'Crompton' 33052 stands in the terminal in October 1980: Lamberhurst / Wiki buff.ly/J43lMiX

#OnThisDay 41 years ago Eltham Well Hall moved east becoming plain 'Eltham' and Eltham Park station closed, due to construction of the A2 relief road. As seen in this 1984 photo of Well Hall, the new Eltham platforms were immediately adjacent. David Flett buff.ly/xU7OUPQ

#OnThisDay 34 years ago, the BR platforms closed at Westbourne Park, leaving the station as the sole preserve of London Underground. Around nine months earlier, a Network Southeast liveried Class 121 'bubble car' calls en route to Greenford. Kevin Lane buff.ly/A9NsXF8

#OnThisDay 50 years ago Tube driver 'Julius' Joseph Stephen was shot dead at West Ham by an IRA terrorist whose bomb prematurely detonated on his train. A plaque was unveiled in 2022 in the presence of his widow and son after a campaign by TfL colleagues buff.ly/C3vpfzC

Today's #OTD reminded me, I jumped aboard the penultimate C Stock movement 12 years ago as 5533 ran empty Hammersmith Depot-Moorgate-Ealing Common Depot (then by road to Booth's in Rotherham for scrap). Here's a driver's eye view approaching the original 1863 King's Cross station

#OnThisDay 85 years ago the 1863 Kings Cross St Pancras Metropolitan Line station was replaced by the current one to the west, one of very few pre-war developments completed during wartime. In 1995 an inner rail Circle Line train calls: 6089Gardener buff.ly/xiPDZla

#OnThisday 93 years ago the Piccadilly Line was extended at both ends: from Arnos Grove to Enfield West (Oakwood), and from Northfields to Hounslow West. The super futuristic looking Southgate was one of two brand new stations: Sebastien Degardin buff.ly/oKzw1iW

#OnThisDay 110 years ago Barnes Bridge station was opened by the London & South Western Railway, unusually in the middle of the First World War when many stations and entire routes had temporarily closed. Seen in 2017 with its namesake behind, Sim0nTrains buff.ly/qvQmiop

#OnThisDay 174 years ago the West Cornwall Railway opened from Penzance to Redruth, partly over the mainly mineral 1837 Hayle Railway. Extending to Truro that August, it was isolated until connecting to the Cornwall Railway at Truro in 1860. A busy Penzance in July 1982: Clive Smith buff.ly/FKSeozp

#OnThisDay 120 years ago the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opened between Kennington Road (now Lambeth North) and Baker Street. The portmanteau 'Bakerloo' was quickly coined and officially adopted by July of 1906. Montage of images and posters all LT Museum Collection

#OnThisDay 118 years ago only 9 months after opening, Tottenham Court Road was renamed Goodge Street, and Oxford Street was renamed Tottenham Court Road, matching the adjacent Central Line station: it was presumably very confusing beforehand! Images: LT Museum Collection / TheFrog001 wikimedia

Happy International Women's Day 2026 to all of the amazing women in the transport industry and beyond! Here's two trailblazers: Hannah Dadds the first woman Underground driver (1978) and Karen Harrison her British Rail counterpart ('Traction Trainee' from 1979) #IWD2026 LT Museum Collection

#OnThisDay 61 years ago British Rail closed the Scarborough & Whitby Railway, a scenic yet operationally challenging route hugging the rugged Yorkshire coast. At the Whitby end is the lovely Larpool Viaduct across the Esk, seen from a North Yorkshire Moors Railway train in 2019

#OnThisDay 60 years ago British Rail closed the Somerset & Dorset Railway, more than 100 miles long connecting Bath, Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater with Bournemouth. In September 1960 a service waits to depart Bath Green Park: John Wiltshire (Peter Brabham) buff.ly/xZoVlPw

#OnThisDay 155 years ago, Brockley station was opened by the LB&SCR. Fantastic @tubemapper.bsky.social composite image showing a train on each track, plus one crossing above on the line between Nunhead and Lewisham, which is proposed to also get platforms. buff.ly/pcYEdwy

#OnThisDay 53 years ago Kings Cross Goods closed, although freight continued to the yard on the far right of this Alamy image buff.ly/41tqXCe Some buildings of the complex survive around Granary Square, including the Coal Drops many of us remember as Bagley's nightclub

#OnThisDay 136 years ago the magnificent Forth Bridge was opened by the future King Edward VII, one of the most iconic structures in Scotland and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Image one of many stunning shots from 'Forth Bridge Photos' on facebook buff.ly/9S0IHLR

#OnThisDay 97 years ago Merton Abbey closed. It was the sole station on the LSWR & LBSCR joint line between Tooting (Junction) to Lower Merton (Merton Park). The Northern Line extension in 1926 killed off this route's passenger traffic. John Alsop buff.ly/uecMwXP

#OnThisDay 67 years ago, the Acton Loop line between Acton Town and South Acton closed. After 1932 it was a shuttle service, a single G23 Stock car is seen at South Acton towards the end of the branch's life, the first OPO (One Person Operation) train on the Tube (credit: LURS).

#OnThisDay 146 years ago the District Railway extended from West Brompton to Putney Bridge (& Fulham) via Walham Green (Fulham Broadway) and Parsons Green. Image of Putney Bridge with posed people and clean brickwork suggests it's around the time of opening: LT Museum collection buff.ly/4kpx2qX