RIGHT! As #RailwayArchitecture finished last week and Twitter put up with it for 10 long weeks (yes, I know I'm firmly on many mute lists now…) I thought it apt to tweet personal thanks and credit. And uh-oh, it's become a thread. So... (1/16)
Thank you to all 65 (sixty-five!) experts who contributed on-screen to #RailwayArchitecture. For your time, knowledge, expertise and joy. I never thought we'd have such a diverse range of voices and I am so pleased that we did. (2/16)
Everybody who contributed off-screen, by advising, by helping, or by saying absolutely no Tim do NOT touch that put it BACK; or by making things happen and by opening doors that we never dreamed that might be opened for us. (3/16)
(Sudden realisation that this is turning into almost a weird award speech. Not supposed to, I just wanted to say cheers to all who did a super project in public view and I think that it's right that they take credit. All I do is just write about railways and tweet ;) (4/16)
I had the time of my life, so thank you @brownbobprod team for making the series and making it happen. (Incidentally, as I'm just the jabbering front-man, I do make sure the team sees any tweets about it all too - it was very much a team project) (5/16)
Cheers to the whole @brownbobprod and post-prod crew including: Jacqueline, Rob, Nicki, Audrey, Lucy, Phillip, Siraj, Azalea, Josh, Doris, Will, Nick, Philip, Leigh, Jack, Adrienne, Adam, Jessica, Yasmin, Mark, Drew, Chris, Owen, Raj, Louise, Graham, Merryn… AND THE REST (6/16)
…Michael Slater for the ace music, Barney Miller for motion graphics, and Flying Spider for the drones. Telly documentary production is fascinating and each person is part of a remarkable production machine. I'd no idea so many people were involved. (7/16)
Thank you @UKTV team for commissioning, nurturing & promoting the series: it has found its happy natural home on @YesterdayTweets channel and on @UKTVPlay, thanks to an in-house team who are devoted to creating programmes that its curious and interested audience can love. (8/16)
Cheers to Lucy Bailey, the indefatigable Producer Director (right.). Weeks of filming on the road and along the tracks yet STILL Lucy kept the beautiful shots and narratives going. And put up with my 24/7 #trainchat. (9/16)
Thank you everybody who watched, and all who tweeted me your thoughts. My mum will be printing the best ones and my dad will be printing and framing the worst ones (10/16)
Thank you to all the museums, groups, preservation societies, tour guides, historic building & engineering institutions and orgs who got involved by sharing or contributing related content around broadcasts - so many of us learned and enjoyed so much beyond the TV screen. (12/16)
NOW is the time that those institutions, organisations and people need us as a supportive public more than ever and I really hope that #RailwayArchitecture has helped in some tiny way to bring attention where it might be needed (13/16)
(incidentally, @RailwayMuseum@sciencemuseum team took #RailwayArchitecture in whole new directions every week - I urge you to look through all the fab stories they've found in their collections and told through Twitter, FB and Instagram. It is world-class social media).
Thank you all in the railway press, TV press, online media, BBC local radio, community radio and other media too who have taken an interest and celebrated this telly programme that's now out there and free for all to enjoy (14/16).
Incidentally, if you're outside the UK, "The Architecture The Railways Built" may well appear on your screens soon c/o @PASSION_tvshows... (15/16)
So finally, cheers all: all 10 #RailwayArchitecture episodes are now on @UKTVPlayuktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-arch…. Do look up, look around, and always ask yourself why a building might look like wot like it does. Cheers for putting up with the tweets, and thanks all for watching! (/ends)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
#OnThisDay 21st November 1997, the very last train operated by British Rail ran: the 23.15 Dollands Moor to Wembley container freight service. Few saw it rumble through the night and into history, or indeed its neat ceremonial headboard “[British Rail] 1948-1997” that it was posed with before departure. Here’s Chris Wilson’s photo of it in @RailwayMagazine; via @RailUKForums.
But the British Rail double arrows symbol has been extraordinarily persistent since. It represents so much for so many - in very different ways (I’ve no doubt there’ll be endless replies to that tweet re the Politics of privatisation and Nationalisation; there always are)…
If one takes the “modern railway” to have begun in 1825 with the Stockton & Darlington, the web of lines were a private affair for 122 years until British Railways began in 1948 (this is complex; one could say they were under state control earlier, through the war and so on; but that’s not a debate I’ve time to have today). But that double arrows symbol has come to represent the railways for many not just by ownership, but as a system; an entity.
#OnThisDay 27 Sept 1825, the first steam-hauled passengers were officially carried on a public railway: the Stockton & Darlington. That single trip changed the world. So exactly 198 yrs later, I’m in Darlington: today, colleagues & I have some CHUFFING BIG news for you…
In 1825 that first public steam passenger train ran;
In 1875 a jubilee banquet was held to mark the occasion;
In 1925 the LNER held the Railway Centenary
In 1975 BR did #Rail150 with a cavalcade & tours;
It has been my dream since childhood to imagine what 2025 might hold (2/-)…
I am BEYOND excited to be able to share news of the project I’ve been working on: 2025 is set to be #Railway200! The year-long nationwide programme of activities, events & partnerships will celebrate rail’s remarkable past, importance today, and look forward to its future… (3/-)
Fun fact! In 1977, London became the first capital city to get a direct underground rail link to its airport. The Piccadilly line to @HeathrowAirport has some surprises if you look carefully; here are my faves from researching & filming tonight’s #SecretsOfTheLondonUnderground:
London Transport’s Heathrow Extension opened in two stages; to Hatton Cross in 1975 and Heathrow Central in 1977. Planes were, naturally, part of the ace launch tube roundel, on the 86 new trains’ HEATHROW destination blinds, and “Fly the tube” ads of 1978.
Heathrow Central (now called “Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3”) is contained entirely within a 3-level 120m x 26m concrete box. Moving walkways connect it to terminals (T1’s is now shut); the experimental multi-lingo Passenger Route Indicator helped tourists. Note new ceremonial plaque!
“I MUST tell you,” said a lady with breathless excitement, stopping us suddenly as we walked down Bermondsey Street last night, “I MUST tell you that you are wearing the same clothes as that building.” and skipped off
(What she didn’t tell me, and my bf only casually dropped into chat as we reached home, was that I was wearing my jumper back-to-front, so thanks, guys)
I have also just realised that this occurred, with some irony, almost outside @FashionTextile museum
Just unveiled: confirmed finalised designs for London's new tube trains. Known as "2024 stock", 94 trains will be built for @TfL's Piccadilly line by @SiemensMobility, many in Yorkshire. Due to enter service in 2025. Walk-thru cars, aircon, info screens, more energy efficient...
Bakerloo, Waterloo & City, Central lines will also get these if (and there is a very big if) funding is approved.
Big new tube train factory kicking off in Goole. #Goole.
GREAT news from @RailwayMuseum in York: the museum's Station Hall exhibition is to be refreshed. Overseen by @celkingston, over 2021/2 the royal trains will be shuffled, 200 new objects displayed, plus more on railway workers, inc stories of women and Windrush generation (1/4)
Objects to be displayed in NRM's refresh include the old @LondonWaterloo wooden WH Smith kiosk, the Royal Train class 47 loco "Prince William", and (possibly) a waiting room display inc these beautiful Grantham station tiles, currently in store at @sciencemuseum Wroughton (2/4)
Designers will be appointed soon, with vehicle moves & construction to happen in 2022 (Covid-dependent, obv). There's also major roof restoration happening, AND wonderfully, film & sounds from National Archive of Railway Oral History. Much of this funded by @friends_railway.(3/4)