31. The Iron Road to Europe

This week on the podcast we are talking about trains. You might think that we talked about trains a mere two episodes back. To which we respond – trains! Trains are great! Woohoo, trains!Okay, so one big reason why we’re back on public transport again is because it’s what this week’s guest really wanted to talk about. As well as being the political editor of Buzzfeed UK, Jim Waterson is a massive railway nerd, and is the only person ever to – we don’t use this word lightly – beg to appear on this podcast. He tells us the delightfully screwy story of regional Eurostars: how the British government spent hundreds of millions of pounds commissioning trains and building infrastructure so that you could get sleeper trains from Manchester, Wolverhampton or Swansea to the continent – yet never managed to run a single train. Before we hear from Jim, though, Jonn bores Stephanie to tears by enthusiastically recounting everything I’ve learnt about the history of the British railways from a book he’s just...

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