Alstom to host Britain’s biggest rail celebration as part of Railway 200

31st January 2025

Alstom, global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, has announced that it will host the UK’s largest ever gathering of historic rail vehicles – The Greatest Gathering– to mark the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. 

On Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025, Alstom’s historic Litchurch Lane Site in Derby will open to the public for the first time in over 50 years. Britain’s biggest and oldest remaining train factory will be home to more than 50 rolling stock exhibits from the past, present and future of the railways.

The event forms part of the wider Railway 200 festivities, a year-long celebration marking the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) on 27 September 1825 – and a journey that gave birth to the modern railway.

Senior figures from the rail industry attended the launch event on Thursday 30 January, enjoying speeches from Gian Luca Erbacci, Europe Region President at Alstom, Emma Roberts, Programme Manager at Railway 200 and Baggy Shanker, Labour MP for Derby South. His Majesty’s Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Colonel John Wilson OBE DL, was also present, alongside legendary music and rail enthusiast Pete Waterman.

Historic locomotives – representing steam, diesel and electric traction – were exhibited at Litchurch Lane on the eve of tickets going on sale, and which will appear at The Greatest Gathering in August (or examples from the same in class):

  • LNER Class A4 (60007) ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’, built 1937. Preserved steam locomotive provided by the Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust, operated by Locomotive Services Limited
  • Merchant Navy Class (35018) ‘British India Line’, built 1945. Preserved Southern Railway steam locomotive, operated by West Coast Railways
  • Class 37 (37800), ‘Cassiopeia’, built 1963. Diesel-electric locomotive owned by Europhoenix and operated by Rail Operations Group
  • Class 50 (50049) ‘Defiance’, built 1968. Diesel locomotive operated by GB Railfreight and owned by Class 50 Alliance Ltd, based at the Severn Valley Railway. ‘The Greatest Gathering’ headboard created by Newton Castings
  • Class 57 (57307) ‘Lady Penelope’, originally built in 1965 as 47225 and rebuilt in 2002. Diesel locomotive operated by Direct Rail Services
  • Class 66 (66315) converted for UK use in 2025. Diesel locomotive operated by GB Railfreight
  • Class 69 (69004) originally built in 1979 as 56069 and rebuilt in 2022. Diesel-electric locomotive in heritage British Rail Research Division livery operated by GB Railfreight
  • Class 507 (507001), built 1978. Preserved Merseyrail electric multiple unit (EMU) in heritage British Rail blue-grey livery, provided by the Class 507 Preservation Society
  • Class 390 Pendolino (390016 – now renumbered 390200 for Railway 200), built in 2002. Electric high-speed passenger train operated by Avanti West Coast
  • Class 701 Aventra (701003), built in 2024 at Derby Litchurch Lane. Electric multiple unit (EMU) operated by South Western Railway
  • Class 720 Aventra (720503), built in 2024 at Derby Litchurch Lane. Electric multiple unit (EMU) operated by Greater Anglia