Gareth Dennis
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garethdennis.uk
Gareth Dennis
@garethdennis.uk
13K followers 3.4K following 2.4K posts
Railway engineer and author of HOW THE RAILWAYS WILL FIX THE FUTURE (https://bit.ly/HowTheRailways). Hosts @railnatter.uk. Chairs Yorkshire PWI and NEREF. Co-founder of the Campaign for Level Boarding. He/him.
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garethdennis.uk
mexican Gareth says thank you x
January 18, 2026 at 9:01 PM
garethdennis.uk
a wall mounted panic alarm button that's big and red
January 18, 2026 at 9:00 PM
garethdennis.uk
Let's remind ourselves of what was promised in 2018 for £70bn of new east-west high speed lines across the north, thanks to far superior reporting to what we're seeing today: www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...
the original NPR map showing new high speed lines between Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, as well as the full HS2 network
January 14, 2026 at 8:01 AM
garethdennis.uk
Frozen Foss in York earlier this evening, with bonus snow on top...
January 5, 2026 at 9:53 PM
garethdennis.uk
January 5, 2026 at 7:20 AM
garethdennis.uk
we chose chaos and violence
bit.ly/HowTheRailways
an extract from the start of How The Railways Will Fix The Future, reading: "The changes we make now are about how extreme climate change will be by the end of this century. Consequently, we no longer have a choice about “if” — we only have a choice about “when”, “how” and “for whom”. As Professor Kevin Anderson, jointly of the University of Manchester in the UK, Uppsala University in Sweden and Bergen University in Norway, says: There are now no non-radical futures. The choice is between immediate and profound social change, or waiting a little longer for chaotic and violent social change. In 2023, the window for this choice is rapidly closing."
January 3, 2026 at 4:32 PM
garethdennis.uk
What the hell is this thing? Why is it related to railways? Does it need to be?

DECAY and HOPE, tonight's special End Of Year @railnatter.uk, 8pm on YouTube 🎉
December 31, 2025 at 3:21 PM
garethdennis.uk
a glimpse of the Before kitchen scenes, Merry Christmas!
December 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
garethdennis.uk
this
December 21, 2025 at 11:03 PM
garethdennis.uk
As predicted. Driver okay. Good view of the total lack of crash structure.
"Trailer collides with Interoceanic Train while trying to beat it at crossing in Chiapas. So far, no serious injuries have been reported following the Interoceanic Train crash" with a photo of a completely wrecked HST front end, like the cab is just gone
December 21, 2025 at 6:44 AM
garethdennis.uk
Remember when HS2 to Leeds was cancelled by the NIC's shitty maths and fundamental lack of expertise, and Leeds was thrown the bone of "you'll get trams" and I said those would never be delivered?

Yeah, as I was saying...
December 18, 2025 at 1:25 AM
garethdennis.uk
probably fine
an unbearably spectacular red and orange and pink sky, violent in its vibrance, framed by pylons
December 17, 2025 at 8:10 AM
garethdennis.uk
this is extremely true for the railways, including GBR
December 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
garethdennis.uk
Bus deregulation was inflicted on the public with no democratic input or oversight, wrecking rural services and adding pointless complexity. Fares went up, ridership went down.

Even putting all that to one side, the whole proposition very plainly makes no sense.
two separate tickets for buses in York that are not interchangeable
December 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM
garethdennis.uk
could not be funnier that this happened in the same week
TIME magazine person of the year covers for "the architects of AI"
December 11, 2025 at 11:14 PM
garethdennis.uk
could not be funnier that this happened in the same week
TIME magazine person of the year covers for "the architects of AI"
December 11, 2025 at 11:14 PM
garethdennis.uk
"Gathered in Lisbon, the European Greens demand that European countries publish legally binding modal shift targets for passenger and rail freight, enabling the creation and delivery of long term plans and maximising the benefits for communities, industries and economies."
a screenshot showing the adopted resolutions, including "Shifting Europe's Transport Infrastructure Towards Sustainability and Justice: The European Rail Network at the Centre"
December 11, 2025 at 11:25 AM
garethdennis.uk
a tweet by Gareth Dennis saying "the most performatively stupid man in Britain" referring to Keir Starmer
December 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
garethdennis.uk
There's all sorts from all eras of the modern railway, right from the 1820s, through the weird post-Railways Act 1993 years, up to the pre-cloud storage years. Folders, floppies and hard drives!
a mid-1800s subscription book with the railway rules included, in this case a largely timeless STOP THE FUCKING TRAIN symbol of shoving both hands in the air a bunch of small lever arch files with British Rail and Railtrack branding, full of half ignored standards a pile of floppy disks, CDs and VHSs looking highly obsolete a Western Digital hard drive in its original box with a hand written label stuck to it reading "NR Corporate Archive, Engineering Inheritance Drawing Collection" just shoved on a shelf, presumably because it's been properly archived now
December 11, 2025 at 10:49 AM
garethdennis.uk
This lovely drawing, signed off by Stephenson in 1830 and showing details of the track construction, adds further credence to the "track gauge was a vibe" theory of the trans-modern railways, given it prescribes a track gauge of 4' 9".
a beautiful hand drawn and painted orthographic drawing showing two tracks in detail, one sleepered and one using stone blocks a close up sitting the dimension between the inner faces of the edge rails, showing 4 foot 9 inches
December 11, 2025 at 10:30 AM
garethdennis.uk
Classic XC experience. Build HS2 in full.
a completely rammed train with people standing right the way along the aisle and all seats filled
December 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
garethdennis.uk
There are, of course, lots of famous engineer names spread about - thanks to the tenacity of the Westerners, Brunel (boooooo) is everywhere, but true and lesser known legends are scattered about aplenty.
an 1822 signature of George Stephenson, made in Killingworth in a bloody wee school jotter a workers mark under a scale bar from a drawing, of Henry Fowler of Manchester
December 11, 2025 at 10:14 AM
garethdennis.uk
In amongst the deed collection are a few famous names... Christopher Wren, Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale. Ada Lovelace as well!
a big old deed manuscript with wibbly cut edges at the top and wax seals at the bottom, written in English cursive, with Christopher Wren's name at the bottom a very fancy looking written deed topped with "Victoria By The Grace Of God" with two large wax seals at the bottom a hand drawn and coloured map deed with blocked areas to be purchased by the railway, with names and small signet ring seal squares at the bottom Florence Nightingale's name next to a seal at the bottom of the document
December 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
garethdennis.uk
I think my favourite document from yesterday's visit to the Network Rail archive was this 1553 deed, written in Latin, for land that eventually became railway land... Being contemporary with the first railways being built in Britain gives it a fascinating further significance.
a very old, cursive and wordy written document on folded, faded sheepskin the reverse of the same document, with seal ribbons folded at the bottom a close up of the same document, showing the dates of 1553 and some of the detail of the cursive
December 11, 2025 at 9:17 AM
garethdennis.uk
Twitter isn't sure.
a Twitter poll and most people think the brand is going to be... bad.
December 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM