Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Live from Kings Cross Station

Join Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny for 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.

For the Train Tracks鈥� grand finale at Kings Cross station, Georgia Mann celebrates the London transport hub as Petroc heads towards the city. There鈥檚 train-inspired music from Vivian Ellis, Meredith Monk and Heitor Villa-Lobos, as well as more historic and evocative locomotive recordings from the National Railway Museum archive.

Georgia鈥檚 special guests include the architect Colin Bennie from John McAslan and Partners, the architects who transformed Kings Cross back in 2012, and she鈥檒l be joined by jazz trumpeter Poppy Daniels and friends who will grace the station concourse with live music.

There鈥檚 also a look to the future of train travel with Dr Debbie Hopkins, Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Oxford and Tom Cheesewright, an Applied Futurist.

Plus, composer Jasper Dommett will introduce their new piece All Change!, a world premiere commissioned and specially recorded by the 蜜芽传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

2 hours

Last on

Sat 27 Sep 2025 15:00
蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Live from Darlington

See all episodes from Train Tracks

Music Played

  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Petite Suite de Concert, Op 77 (4th mvt, 'La tarantelle fr茅tillant')

    Conductor: Anthony Parnther. Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.

  • Vivian Ellis

    Coronation Scot

    Orchestra: 蜜芽传媒 Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.
    • The Best Of British Light Music.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 2.

  • Meredith Monk

    Railroad (Travel Song)

    Performer: Bruce Brubaker.
    • ECM New Series.

  • Ennio Morricone

    Main Theme (Once Upon a Time in the West)

    Performer: Ennio Morricone. Singer: Edda Dell鈥橭rso.
    • Bacci Bros Records.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Waltz in A major, Op 39 No 15 (Version for piano 4-hands)

    Performer: Igor Levit. Performer: Christian Thielemann.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Billy Strayhorn

    Take the A Train

    Ensemble: Poppy Daniels Quartet.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No 5 in E minor, Op 64 (4th mvt, Finale)

    Conductor: Vasily Petrenko. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Onyx Classics.

  • Joan Baez

    Railroad Bill

    Singer: Joan Baez.
    • Very Early Joan (Live).
    • Vanguard Records.
    • 13.

  • Heitor Villa鈥怢obos

    Bachianas brasileiras No 2, 'O trenzinho do Caipira' (4th, 'Toccata')

    Conductor: Roberto Minczuk. Orchestra: S茫o Paulo Symphony Orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Edward Elgar

    Cockaigne Overture, Op 40, 'In London Town'

    Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis. Orchestra: 蜜芽传媒 Symphony Orchestra.
    • Warner Classics International.

  • Nadia Boulanger

    La Mer

    Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma. Performer: Kathryn Stott.
    • Merci.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 11.

  • Jasper Dommett

    All change!

    Orchestra: 蜜芽传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Janne Nisonen.

  • John Williams

    Hedwig's Theme

    Performer: Randy Kerber. Conductor: John Williams. Orchestra: Session Orchestra.
    • Atlantic Records.

  • William Campbell

    Thomas the Tank Engine Theme

    Composer: Mike O'Donnell. Orchestra: Ed Starink.
    • Rachelle Productions.

Broadcast

  • Sat 27 Sep 2025 15:00
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3