Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History

University of York

News & events

History and the future of mobility

The AHRC has awarded Colin Divall (along with Prof. Julian Hine of the University of Ulster), a grant of nearly £34 000 under the Research Networking Scheme to run a series of three workshops in 2010-11 on 'Mobility Cultures: Making a Usable Past for Transport Policy'. The workshops will bring together transport historians and scholars in transport studies together with journalists and professionals from the transport industries, policy and consultancy.

Colin Divall's Clinker Lecture to the Railway and Canal Historical Society, ‘“To encourage such as would travel a little, to travel more”: history and the future of mobility’, has been published in the Society's Journal.

A revised version also appears in H. Maki and J. Korjus, eds, Railways as an Innovative Regional Factor (Helsinki, 2009). (This book also contains essays by Dr Barbara Schmucki on cross-channel travel by railway ferries and by Dr Hiroki Shin on the business strategies and corporate images of Britain's railways.)

A considerably revised and expanded version of the lecture, 'Global networks, business history and the future of mobility' was given as the keynote address to the Association of Business Historians' annual meeting in York in July 2010. A webcam of the talk is available.

The Commercial Cultures of Britain's Railways 1872-1977

The AHRC has awarded Dr Colin Divall £301k over three years to carry out a programme of research on the commercial cultures of Britain's railways. The project, which started in November 2008, analyses the ways in which the railways developed marketing, advertising and branding to encourage the consumption of railway travel in three critical periods in their history - the late Victorain period, when third-class travel became widespread, the inter-war years, when the railways faced increasingly stiff road competition, and the 1960s and 1970s when the motorway network brought a further intensification of road competition. The project will result in a major exhibition at the National Railway Museum from late 2012.

Mobilities Conference July 2009

The IRS&TH hosted the Cultural History Conference of the University's Department of History in July 2009 on the theme of Cultural Histories of Sociability, Spaces and Mobility. A total of 39 papers was delivered by scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, on subjects ranging all over the globe, and from the mediaeval to the modern periods. We are editing a selection of essays based on the papers.

The Bob Hunt and HMRS Bursaries

The Bob Hunt Bursary for 2010-11, funded by Mrs Margaret Hunt in memory of her husband. is shared between Alex Medcalf and Matt Thompson. The bursary is for £2000, preference being given to an IRS&TH research student working on either the Great Western or Midland Railways.

The Historical Model Railway Society funds a number of bursaries for IRS&TH students. These awards, which are given by the Society on the advice of the Institute, are of varying values of up to £1000 each. For further information, please contact the programme co-ordinator for the course in which you are interested.

Research workshops

Details of, and a registration form for, the special two-day symposium on Tom Rolt on 14-15 October 2011 are now available.

Recruitment to teaching programmes

Applications are open for the October 2012 intakes to the Certificate in Transport History, and the Certificate in Railway Studies. Please note that owing to staff absences, the taught MA in Railway Studies & Transport History will not be offered in 2011-12. Enquiries for entrance in October 2012 are welcome. The MA by independent study and research, and the MA by research will be offered as usual in 2011-12.

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IRS&TH /05 May 11/CD