SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) welcomed back the Railway 200 exhibition train, ‘Inspiration’, to its network this week as its celebrations continued.
Railway 200, which marks the 200th anniversary of the railway in Britain, has become the world’s biggest celebration of rail, with more than 10,000 events across the country. It began on Wednesday 1 January 2025 when railways across Britain took part in a 'Whistle Up' (as seen below, at Alton).
For over a year, SWR has played a leading role by hosting 90 events across its network – in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, London, Somerset, Surrey and Wiltshire – including four visits by ‘Inspiration’.
The special train, which aims to inspire the next generation of railway workers, entertained around 3,000 visitors in Salisbury (above, 21-23 February) and Kingston (below, 25-26 February) this week, marking a triumphant return to the SWR network.
The exhibition train’s visit to Southampton Central in December attracted 2,263 visitors, making it one of the most successful visits of its nationwide tour (below, in front of the specially painted mural).
Before that, it made a special visit to London Waterloo in July, where it was joined by the steam locomotive Clan Line (below), which was itself built on the SWR network in Eastleigh and was, for a time, based in Bournemouth.
The legacy of Railway 200 will be felt across the network long after Inspiration has gone, thanks to the many projects and events that SWR and local communities have delivered together.
Incredibly, the events in 2025 attracted 9,478 visitors, and they were all made possible thanks to 282 volunteers who worked an estimated 3,602 hours.
In January 2025, SWR were proud to host the country’s very first Railway 200 event at Winnersh, on the route from London Waterloo to Reading.
SWR, together with the Windsor-Reading Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and Southeast CRP, unveiled a plaque for the station’s 115th birthday (above).
Winnersh’s plaque will be a permanent reminder of the station’s original name, Sindlesham and Hurst Halt, while anniversary plaques have also been installed at Ascot and Winnersh Triangle in Berkshire; Axminster (above) and Honiton in Devon; Bournemouth in Dorset; and Brockenhurst, Hook and Whitchurch in Hampshire.
At London Waterloo (above), a mural entitled ‘200 Years of Romance’ was unveiled in October, a collection of photographs that encapsulate moments in time and show the connection between people and the railway.
Photos were suggested by local community groups and railway colleagues, keeping their special memories alive for decades to come. Railway 200 murals have also been installed at Ashurst, New Milton (above) and Southampton Central in Hampshire.
Memories of railway colleagues are at the heart of SWR’s flagship Railway 200 project, the reflective garden at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey (above).
Once the largest cemetery in Europe, today it also acts as a memorial to the London Necropolis Railway, which transported coffins from a special area of London Waterloo station between 1854 and 1941.
The reflective garden, built on previously unused land within the cemetery, will provide a peaceful space to remember lost railway colleagues and friends (above). The first plaques to remember railway colleagues will be installed later this year.
Paula Aldridge, South Western Railway’s Community Rail Manager, said:
“Just as the railway has done for the last 200 years, our celebrations have brought local communities together, and we are very proud to have played our part in the national festivities.
"Thanks to a wide range of partners and volunteers all across our network, there are permanent reminders of the celebrations through murals and special plaques, but more importantly, we’ve created some very happy memories.
“It’s hard to believe we’ve been celebrating for over a year, but we’re not finished yet! Hopefully we can inspire a new generation to join the railway and continue its legacy."
