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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.