So far I've focused on the shipping side of things on the blog which is not very representative of what the Ballast Trust does. Particularly not the work of our 3 volunteers who are all processing railway collections.

I thought this podcast by The National Archives at Kew on "God's Wonderful Railway" would help balance things out. It is a recording of a talk given by Bruno Derrick to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Great Western Railway in 2008.

The talk covers the early years of the Great Western Railway and how the development of the railways transformed the landscape of Great Britain and became the agent of enormous social change.

How to listen to the podcast: A podcast can be listened to on a computer or on any mp3 player—not just an iPod. To listen to this podcast simply click on the 'pay' button and it will start to play automatically. If you want to save it and listen later, click the 'download' button. This will allow you to download the file, save it and listen later.