{"id":312024,"date":"2025-11-05T18:02:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T08:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=67084"},"modified":"2025-11-05T18:02:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T08:02:34","slug":"gresley-institute-named-in-popular-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=312024","title":{"rendered":"Gresley Institute named in popular vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just say \u201cGresley Institute\u201d and everyone in Britain will know. It just has to be railway-related in a big way, and it\u2019s probably ot something to do with Doncaster in South Yorkshire. That\u2019s why Network Rail\u2019s new railway industry training centre has been named for the engineer whose name is as much an icon as his most famous creations.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It might have been called \u201cThe Flying Scotsman Centre\u201d, but the public vote blew that completely off the rails. By more than two-to-one, the stylish Doncaster Lakeside building, as streamlined as an A4 Pacific locomotive, has steamed into a new life as The Gresley Centre. Network Rail has announced the branding following a public vote, held in partnership with the City of Doncaster Council, which attracted over 3,500 responses.<\/p>\n

Absolute landslide majority for Nigel (not that one)<\/h2>\n

He was born in Edinburgh. A memorial has centre stage in that city\u2019s Waverley Station. However, Sir Nigel Gresley is forever synonymous with Doncaster Railway Works. So, it was never going to be as close as the Dutch elections. Running away with the title, and scoring an absolute landslide majority at the first time of asking, Network Rail\u2019s new training centre is now named The Gresley Institute.<\/p>\n

\"Sir
Sir Nigel Gresley in thoughtful pose in his office, which still exists today in the original Doncaster Works. Image: \u00a9 Gresley Society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The three-storey building on Carolina Way near Lakeside is being brought back into use by Network Rail. Formerly home to the National College for High Speed Rail, the building has been transformed into a modern, streamlined centre for operational training, education and development. The first students are already in their classrooms. Eventually, the Gresley Institute will train up to 1,000 rail industry professionals each year.<\/p>\n

The most famous and the fastest<\/h2>\n

Lakeside Doncaster is becoming a training and research hub. The Gresley Institute will join DB Cargo UK’s East Coast training centre<\/a>. The name of the new institute honours Sir Nigel Gresley. The visionary chief mechanical engineer designed both classes of express steam locomotives that became Flying Scotsman and Mallard, respectively, the most famous and the fastest steam locomotives in the world.<\/p>\n

\"Dawn
Dawn of innovation in Doncaster. Image: \u00a9 Network Rail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt has been wonderful to have thousands of people taking part in the vote, [and] we\u2019re thrilled to see the transformation of the Doncaster site,\u201d said Sarah Newman, Network Rail business change manager. \u201cThe Gresley Institute will become a cornerstone for training the next generation of rail industry professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entirely appropriate and anniversary upcoming<\/h2>\n

Nigel Gresley was the chief engineer of the original incarnation of the London and North Eastern Railway. The 1923 incorporation of LNER was a mixed-traffic, vertically integrated business. It was one of four massive geographically distinct corporations, each of which was responsible for the railway in its entirety. The original LNER is best remembered for its prestige express train, The Flying Scotsman. If not for that Edinburgh and London express, LNER would have been all about stodgily dependable commuter routes and coal trains. Nigel Gresley changed all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Nigel Gresley lived in Doncaster for many years, and his greatest engineering achievements were created here \u2013 including in his streamlined trains of the 1930s, Britain\u2019s first high speed trains,\u201d explained Philip Benham, chairman of the Gresley Society Trust<\/a>. \u201cDevelopment and innovation were at the heart of Sir Nigel\u2019s designs, so it is entirely appropriate that his name should be associated with the Institute where the rail industry\u2019s future professionals will learn their skills. Next year will see the 150th anniversary of Sir Nigel Gresley\u2019s birth, so this naming is especially timely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just say \u201cGresley Institute\u201d and everyone in Britain will know. It just has to be railway-related in a big way, and it\u2019s probably ot something\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,343,1759,113,47,18671,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-312024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doncaster","category-infrastructure","category-lner","category-network-rail","category-rail-news","category-sir-nigel-gresley","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312024"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312546,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312024\/revisions\/312546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}