Mark on History
(A documentary photography project about the people behind a living railway).
Even before the first passengers arrive at the station, the railway is already awake. The fireman tends the fire in the locomotive, bringing the boiler up to pressure, while the driver carefully checks the engine and prepares it for the day’s work. Along the line, signalmen exchange bell signals — a railway language not unlike Morse code — confirming that the track is ready for trains.
The United Kingdom became the birthplace of the railway network. In 1825 the world’s first public steam-powered railway opened here, marking one of the key moments of the Industrial Revolution and transforming the way people, goods and ideas moved across the country.
The railway line between Kidderminster and Bewdley opened in 1878 and closed on 5 January 1970. In 1984 it was brought back to life through the initiative and determination of volunteers who took responsibility for restoring the line. For more than forty years since its reopening, volunteers have continued to play a key role in its existence.
Today the Severn Valley Railway is run by a small team of professional staff and supported by around 1,500 volunteers working across the line. Together they maintain locomotives, stations and historic infrastructure, welcome visitors and help keep the railway alive.
I began documenting this station in 2019. The first photographs were included in the railway’s official guide. After returning to the project following the COVID-19 pandemic, I conducted around forty interviews with volunteers, observing their work in workshops, on platforms and in locomotive depots.
My interest lies not only in the restoration of the railway itself, but also in the people behind this process. Through repetitive manual work — cleaning, sanding, painting and repairing — they preserve not only the physical infrastructure, but also collective memory.
I first visited the Severn Valley Railway in 2019. At that time I was photographing the station, the trains and the architecture, without thinking that it might become a long-term project.
However, what caught my attention was not only the railway itself, but also the people who worked there. Many of them introduced themselves simply as volunteers. I was struck by how many there were and by the way they interacted with one another — greeting each other by name, sharing stories, supporting one another and working together with a sense of familiarity and mutual respect.
Over time I realised that what interested me was not only the railway and its machinery, but the community of people that had formed around it.
Reflecting on my own life and on people close to me, I often thought about my mother. She had been a very active person, but after retiring she seemed to lose the familiar social environment that had given structure and meaning to her daily life. This made me reflect on how important it is for people to remain involved, to feel needed, and to stay connected to others and to a shared purpose.
For me, this project became not only a story about a railway, but also a reflection on volunteering as a form of participation in life. On this railway I saw how a shared task can bring people together, how work can become a form of care, and how collective effort can preserve not only material heritage but also human relationships.
It often seems that a single person is too small to change anything in the world. But when people come together around a common purpose, even small actions gain strength. Together they create a space — living, resilient, and sustained by mutual support.
This project grew out of admiration and respect for these people.
Through their work, history is not only preserved — it continues to live.