A train driver who spends his days driving trains for London North Eastern Railway (LNER) at 125 mph on the East Coast Main Line recently exchanged the controls of an Azuma train for a day driving trains on a Derbyshire miniature railway.

Nigel Turner has been a train driver for over 40 years, and has driven trains on the East Coast Main Line since 2002. His day at the Manor Park Miniature Railway in Glossop, Derbyshire, was spent at the controls of a scale model of a Class 91, which has a top speed of just 6 mph.

Nigel’s day at Glossop was to celebrate the second 225 Day, which LNER instigated on 22nd May 2025. During his career with LNER, the trains Nigel has clocked up millions of miles driving include Class 43 HSTs, the latest Azuma trains, and his personal favourite, the Class 91 InterCity 225 trains. Last year, one of Nigel’s favourite Class 91s received a new livery to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Railway Museum.

At Glossop, his driving was limited to a one-mile loop of the Manor Park Miniature Railway. However, although he had to remain alert as when he was driving a full-size train, he was more aware of the gradients and bends, and found the miniature locomotive more difficult to control. Other differences he found while driving through the park were dogs chasing a ball, children running around, and squirrels wanting to say “hello”.

Nigel’s interest in railways began when, aged four, his father took him to London Liverpool Street station, where a Class 37 was at the platform, and its driver invited Nigel into the cab.

In his daily work, Nigel supports LNER’S driver training programme, but at Glossop, he was in the classroom with Caleb Lovegrove, the miniature railway’s General Manager, explaining the controls.

“I did a bit of miniature train driving back in the day, when I was around 20 years old, at a local park in South London. It was a bit like going back to my youth again, and I enjoyed every moment. There’s a miniature railway in my hometown of Grantham that one of my colleagues is involved in, and he keeps asking me to help at weekends, which I’m considering for when I retire. I still think I’ve got a bit of life in me yet on the big railway, so we’ll see. But I know the railway will never leave me, and if it’s not riding on miniature railways, I’m sure you’ll find me at the controls of a model railway instead!”

Nigel Turner