As part the Railway 200 celebrations, Alstom’s historic Derby Litchurch Lane Works played host to the world’s largest-ever gathering of historic and modern trains and rail-related exhibits at “The Greatest Gathering” – between Friday 1st and Sunday 3rd August 2025.

This video is a snapshot of my time at Litchurch Lane. We had such a great time exploring and taking part in the various activities available. The organisation of the event was well planned and the atmosphere was fantastic. At one point I admit to finding the experience quite overwhelming, such was the vastness of the site and the number and variety of exhibits on show.

The festival featured over 100 iconic locomotives and vehicles from the past, present and future of the railways and marked the first time in almost 50 years that the train factory had been open to the public.

Derby Litchurch Lane is one of the world’s largest rolling stock factories, and the only UK facility that designs, engineers, builds and tests trains for domestic and export markets. The factory was opened by the Midland Railway in 1876 and the city of Derby has been building trains since 1839.

As part of Alstom’s “The Great Gathering” a number of special charter trains were organised to carry visitors to and from Derby. This video includes a selection of these workings at Derby railway station alongside regular passenger trains – 01/08 & 02/08/2025

“The Greatest Gathering” was a once in a lifetime event, and Alstom and the organisers are to be congratulated on pulling off such a well run festival. The atmosphere was by and large friendly and enthusiastic – in fact, over the two days I attended, I only came across one grumpy person (and no, it wasn’t me!)

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