The Man Who Knew Every Freight Train (But Couldn’t Work a Smartphone)
The last time we saw Geoff, he’d somehow ended up living a semi-off-grid existence outside Lleida, building things that didn’t need building and fixing things[…]
The Station With No Ticket Machine (and Why Nobody Seems to Mind)
We arrived earlier than we needed to. That was Sue’s doing. She likes a margin. Time to stand, look around, and not feel like something’s[…]
The Branch Line That Refused to Die (and Why Geoff Was Right About It)
We hadn’t planned to get off. That was the idea. A simple run out. One of those tidy Spanish days where everything connects, runs on[…]
The Things I Look At in a Station (That Most People Walk Straight Past)
I can usually tell how long I am going to be in a station within about ten seconds of walking into it. Not by the[…]
Spain, the UK, and the Rest of Europe: A Railwayman’s Unfair Comparison
I did not move to Spain intending to become a railway comparative analyst. I moved here because Sue liked the light, the oranges tasted like[…]
“In Crewe, a ticket was a ticket. Here, it’s a small administrative exam.”
I only wanted to book a straightforward trip. Two people. One destination. No heroics. Within five minutes I had three tabs open, Sue looking over[…]
Night Freight
I hadn’t been near a freight yard in years. The passenger stations get all the glamour these days. Polished floors, ticket machines that speak five[…]
Lleida Day: Fast Line, Slow Branch, and Geoff’s Quiet Power
Sue said we should treat it like a date, so I wore the decent shirt and left the railway cap at home. Barcelona to Lleida[…]
Lights That Last
In Crewe we never put “lamp cleaner” in the job description, but half the time that’s what you were. Driver comes in muttering that his[…]
Restoring a Class 47, and Hearing From Geoff (Who’s Gone Off the Rails Entirely)
Some men dream of vineyards. Others build goat pens in rural Spain and call it “freedom.” Me? I restore locomotives. This time it’s a Hornby[…]
Barcelona Sants Station: Functional, Ugly, and Brilliant
I wasn’t even planning to write about it, to be honest. But the thing about railway stations — proper ones — is they tend to[…]
Train Stations with Character: Spain’s Most Beautiful Stations
Not Just Places You Catch Trains You can learn a lot about a country by standing in its train stations. Not the ticket counters or[…]
The Lost Railways of Spain: Forgotten Tracks and Ghost Stations
Where the Tracks Trail Off into Silence They don’t really vanish, you know. These old Spanish railway lines. They don’t scream or collapse or announce[…]
The Transcantábrico: Slow Luxury Along the Northern Coast
A Different Kind of Train Journey After all the commuter runs, regional rambles, and high-speed sprints, this one was different. This was railway indulgence. The[…]
Crossing Borders: Barcelona to Paris by Rail
The Dream of International Rail There’s something uniquely satisfying about boarding a train in one country and stepping off in another. No airports. No plastic[…]
A Lighthearted Day at the Railway Museum
Vilanova i la Geltrú and a Promised Trip It all started with a bribe. “If we go to the beach town,” Sue said, “we are[…]
The Forgotten Lines: Exploring Spain’s Abandoned Railways
You’d think I’d come to Spain for the weather or the food. Everyone else does. But no. I came for the tracks. And not even[…]
First Spanish Train Trip: Barcelona to Zaragoza on the AVE (and the Bit Where I Nearly Bought a House)
Couldn’t sleep the night before. Nothing dramatic—just that mild sort of buzzing when something important’s coming. I laid out my socks. Sue said I looked[…]
The Good, The Bad, and the Delayed (Spain’s Regional Trains)
After getting bounced around (in a mostly fun way) on Feve’s slow, unpredictable, and stubbornly scenic northern routes, I figured it was time for something[…]
Northern Spain’s Narrow-Gauge Trains: Exploring Feve
After Sitges, we needed a shift. Something slower. Less predictable. Not just another straight-line rush from A to B. So, obviously, we ended up on[…]