In recent years, railways have undergone a remarkable renaissance in Europe—night train lines have been (re-)established, the high-speed rail network continues to grow, and in the continent’s effort to reduce CO2 emissions, railways play a key role in the much-needed reform of the transportation sector. However, persistent issues like delays and cancellations highlight the consequences of the long-term neglect of railway infrastructure in many European countries today. Inspired by the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825, a series of events and exhibitions will celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of modern railways in Great Britain and all around the world in 2025. So, how should we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the railways? A good starting point to explore this question is a unique location on the British Isles where the past, present, and future of this transformative transport technology converge: the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York.
Continue reading How to Commemorate Railways at 200? Unearthing Histories of Maintenance, Global Material Flows, and ColonialismAuthor: Martin Meiske
Martin Meiske is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, and a Lecturer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. His broader research interests centre on the intersections of the history of science, technology, and the environment, with a specific focus on infrastructures. His current research project, ‘Cultures and Costs of Maintenance: The Rise of Creosote and its Precarious Legacy’ is funded by the DFG (project no. 457488187). Recent publications: Beyond the Lab and the Field: Infrastructures as Places of Knowledge Production since the Late Nineteenth Century (ed. with Eike-Christian Heine, 2022); Public History: The Infrastructural Utopia of Metropa (with Stefan Esselborn, 2024); Tracing Creosote’s Legacy: From the Rails of Europe to Unplanned Deposits (2025).
