Alstom to host The Greatest Gathering
Alstom is to host this summer’s The Greatest Gathering, the UK’s largest gathering of historic rail vehicles to mark the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
On Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025, Alstom’s 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 over 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.
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. These include an LNER Class A4 (60007) ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’, built 1937, provided by the Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust and operated by Locomotive Services Limited.
Other trains on show include the Merchant Navy Class (35018) ‘British India Line’, a preserved 1945 Southern Railway steam locomotive that is owned and operated by West Coast Railways; and the contemporary Class 720 Aventra (720503), built in 2024 at Derby Litchurch Lane and operated by Greater Anglia
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