Britain’s Changing Railway from out and in

On Tuesday 17 March 2026, RCTS Thames Valley were entertained by a talk given by career railwayman, Phil Deaves who is also the Infrastructure editor of The Railway Observer.  Phil spent most of his career on the Infrastructure side of the railway.  He was first interested in railways when his grandparents gave him a model railway for an early birthday, which ended up with him having a varied and interesting career in railway infrastructure,  As a young man, Phil visited Scotland many times and showed various photograph from that period.  Joining the railway as a sponsored student, he then had a varied career working at Derby, Crewe, Swindon and Doncaster.  Additionally, Phil also worked in East Anglia in a signalling planning appointment. We were shown various photographs and asked to guess the location; most locations were guessed correctly showing the level of knowledge of RCTS Thames Valley members.  A very interesting and informative talk, enjoyed by all who attended.