North Western Railway

Welcome!

Welcome to North West Rail, a website which has been created by a team of dedicated railway enthusiasts. We aim to tell you the latest news about railways in North West England.

Trains are part of our every day lives, and we think they need drastic improvements!

The Railway Companies serving the North West are:

First Transpennine Express
Arriva Trains Wales/Trenau Arriva Cymru
Virgin Trains
Northern Rail
Central Trains
Merseyrail

If you have any contributions you wish to send us, please e-mail them to us at the address listed in the Contact Section.

Unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, we have not been able to take as many of our own pictures as we'd like, so we have borrowed a few. We have tried to give credits where we can, however we have had difficulty with a few pictures. If you recognise a picture and would like it credited, or removed, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The North Western Railway is the main railway company featured in The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and the TV series Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends. Although the company's name has never been specifically stated in either the books or on television it was mentioned as such in tie-in books such as "Island of Sodor, Its History, People and Railways" by the Rev. Awdry and also on some maps that were drawn to accompany the Railway Series.

The railway is situated on the fictional Island of Sodor and is usually referred to as the Fat Controller's Railway after the nickname of its chief executive or chairman Sir Topham Hatt.

The railway's motto is "Nil Unquam Simile", which is Latin for "There's nothing quite like it"!

For a list of engines that work on the NWR, see Railway Engines.