As you may already know, 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public railway that used steam engines. As a result, a large number of events are taking place around the country to mark what is called "Railway 200".
One of the highlights of this anniversary year, clearly marked as such from when it was first advertised, was The Greatest Gathering, taking place at the Alstom train works in Derby from 1 to 3 August.
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| The coat of arms of the city of Derby |
It most definitely lived up to the name, with the number of items of rolling stock going into three figures. I was there from around 11.30am to just before closing time and I still didn't get to see anything.
Many others will have covered this in their own articles, so I will just show some of my pictures with some of my own comments.
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 | There was a heritage bus service running to the station with vintage vehicles from around the country, but I didn't get this.
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| These two were from The Cab Yard, a museum under development near Swansea. The 442 cab in the left is a cab simulator, but this required booking and was full up for the day. |
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Locomotive present ranged from 1825's Locomotion No.1 to...
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The brand new Class 93 from Stadler, a tri-mode locomotive (25kV overhead, diesel engine, battery)
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| Making its "debut" here - the Watercress Line's recently acquired Class 150, in a Regional Railways vinyl livery. This is the first of the "Sprinter" family to enter preservation and probably not the last. |
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HST power cars were rather prevalent - the yard near Derby station also had a bunch of them.
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There's a lot more that I could share. It was definitely a highly memorable day and a testament to the skill of everyone involved that it came off.
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