Tickets can now be booked for visits to the unique exhibition train named Inspiration that will tour the UK later this year as part of the Railway 200 celebrations.

The train will debut at Kidderminster on the Severn Valley Railway in Worcestershire on 27th June, and over the following 12 months will visit 60 locations across the country to showcase the past, present, and future Britain’s railways in new, fun, and engaging ways.

Inspiration will have four catching carriages supported by a £250k grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A ‘Railway Firsts’ coach will highlight Britain’s railways pioneering pedigree and landmark moments in its development, and a ‘Wonderlab on Wheels’ will have hands-on exhibits where visitors can test their engineering skills.

‘Your Railway Future’ will be a carriage demonstrating some of the more unusual careers on the railway, and encourage people to pursue the railway as a career, whilst a ‘Partner Zone’ will be in the last coach, and will provide free and flexible exhibition space.

It is expected that the train will be visited by more than 200,000 people, and although admission to the train will be free, when it visits heritage railways and private sites, normal entry charges to those sites will apply.

After the Severn Valley Railway, during July and August the train will visit Birmingham Moor Street station, London Euston and Waterloo stations, Margate station in Kent, the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, and Lowestoft station, Suffolk.

Between 16th August and 1st October, the train will visit Freightliner Doncaster Railport in South Yorkshire, the National Railway Museum in York, Darlington station in County Durham and Locomotion museum at Shildon, also in County Durham. Bookings for visits at these locations will open shortly.

The train will be open for visits between 10 am and 4 pm, with the train closing at 5 pm, with visits expected to take about one hour. For anyone unable to visit in person, a virtual tour of the exhibition is being planned.

Further information and booking details are online at www.railway200.co.uk/inspiration.

“This special exhibition train is set to become a new, national visitor attraction, providing an unforgettable experience for hundreds of thousands of people across Britain, including many schoolchildren. It will excite, enlighten, entertain and inspire them to take a fresh look at the railway as part of its anniversary celebrations.”

Emma Roberts, programme manager for Railway 200