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Trains, the Railway, and my history as an enthusiast.
As you may have gathered, I am a railway enthusiast. I enjoy riding trains, learning about rolling stock and infrastructure, and 'driving' trains in Train Sim World. The railway, and the trains that run on it, are very interesting to me.
This interest in the railways only started about a year and a half ago, probably in early 2025. As a student I used the railways more than I ever had before to travel, and I also happened across railway related videos on YouTube that got me interested in the railway. (Shoutout JenOnTheMove and Geoff Marshall as some of the earlier channels I watched).
I haven't had much chance to explore a lot of the network, but I aim to go and discover a lot more as time goes on. Most of my knowledge and interest is relatively recent, usually things in current operation or in recent history (so I guess from the late BR era / early privatisation era?)
My interest in the railways has ended up overlapping with my interest in data and statistics, so I ended up logging every train journey that I have taken on RailMiles (a service by the RealTimeTrains creator). It would be cool to share this information publicly, but It's a little invasive and would make tracking me way too easy.
I have gained quite the collection of paper train tickets, and I keep an ever-growing stack of tickets from every journey that I take.
Some quick facts:
> Favourite Train: InterCity 225 (Class 91 + Mk4 Coaches)
> Second Favourite: Class 390 'Pendolino'
> Favourite Station: Hard to say because I haven't been to enough, but I'll always like York.
> Longest Train Journey (distance): LIV - EUS 193mi 52ch
> Longest Train Journey (time): YRK - STP approx. 7 Hours (long, painful diversion due to ECML disruption).
> Most ridden train by distance: Class 802, 3072mi 19ch