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Live from Edinburgh Waverley

Tom McKinney with a musical and cultural celebration of a landmark moment: the 200 year anniversary of the birth of the modern railway

Saturday 27 September 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway, when George Stephenson drove Locomotion No. 1 on its inaugural journey from Shildon to Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington, to great fanfare. The 26-mile journey was a landmark moment in public transport and the springboard for the great Victorian age of the railways, transforming how the world traded, travelled, and communicated.

Anchored by resident train enthusiast Petroc Trelawny, Radio 3 is celebrating this historic occasion by travelling from Inverness to London on the Highland and East Coast Main Lines, aboard the Highland Chieftain, one of the longest direct train journeys in the UK.

Over the course of the eight-hour, 581-mile journey, Petroc will provide updates from the train as it speeds south. He鈥檒l be joined by fellow Radio 3 presenters at stations along the route, including Tom Service at Pitlochry, Tom McKinney at Edinburgh Waverley, Elizabeth Alker at Darlington and Georgia Mann at King鈥檚 Cross.

Broadcasting live from Edinburgh Waverley, Tom McKinney is joined by special guests Neil Brand to explore train music in films through the ages, and Heather Waugh, who until 1st September, was Scotland鈥檚 only female freight train driver to explore women on the railways.

There's also live music courtesy of Sequoia Duo, and Andrew Maclean - assistant director and head curator at the National Railway Museum - introduces us to one of their most interesting exhibits. Plus there will be more historic and evocative locomotive recordings from the National Railway Museum archive, and Tom will catch up with Petroc as he speeds across the country aboard the Highland Chieftain.

2 hours

Last on

Sat 27 Sep 2025 11:00
蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie

    Pibroch Suite for Violin and Orchestra, Op 42 (3rd mvt, 'Dance')

    Performer: Malcolm Stewart. Conductor: David Davies. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • James Oswald

    Heather Bells, & Thistle

    Ensemble: Sequoia.

  • Billy Mayerl

    Railroad Rhythm

    Performer: Piers Lane.
    • Hyperion.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Octet in E flat major, Op 20 (3rd mvt, 'Scherzo')

    Performer: James Ehnes. Performer: Augustin Hadelich. Performer: Erin Keefe. Performer: Andrew Wan. Performer: Cynthia Phelps. Performer: Richard O'Neill. Performer: Edward Arron. Performer: Robert deMaine.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Johannes Brahms

    Academic Festival Overture, Op 80 (with locomotive intro)

    Conductor: Riccardo Chailly. Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.

  • Richard Rodney Bennett

    Murder on the Orient Express (Main Title Theme & Waltz)

    Performer: Philip Fowke. Conductor: Proinns铆as 脫 Duinn. Orchestra: RT脡 Concert Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Humoresque in G flat major, Op 101, B 187

    Conductor: V谩clav Smet谩膷ek. Orchestra: Prague Symphony Orchestra.
    • SUPRAPHON a.s..

  • Benjamin Britten

    This Is the Night Mail Crossing the Border

    Narrator: Simon Russell Beale. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Orchestra: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
    • NMC Recordings.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Feuillets d'album, Op 9, H 121 (No 3, 'Song of the Railways')

    Singer: Rolando Villaz贸n. Choir: Les Elements Chamber Choir. Conductor: Michel Plasson. Orchestra: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Alois Pachernegg

    Unter Dampf! Ein Zug f盲hrt vor眉ber [Under steam, a train passes by]

    Conductor: Ji艡i St谩rek. Orchestra: SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern.
    • Railroad Rhythms: Classical Music About Trains.
    • SWR Classic.
    • 3.

  • Phil Gaston

    Navigator (with locomotive outro)

    Performer: Donald Shaw. Music Arranger: Kris Drever. Singer: Kris Drever. Singer: Kate Rusby.
    • Black Water.
    • Compass Records.

  • Aileen Sweeney

    Hogganfield Loch

    Ensemble: Sequoia.

  • Arcangelo Corelli

    La Folia

    Composer: William McGibbon. Ensemble: Sequoia.

  • Steve Reich

    Different Trains (1st mvt, 'America - Before the War')

    Ensemble: Kronos Quartet.
    • Nonesuch.

Broadcast

  • Sat 27 Sep 2025 11:00
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3