The Greatest Gathering takes place on Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025 at Alstom’s historic Litchurch Lane Site in Derby. Britain’s oldest remaining train factory will be home to in excess of 100 rolling stock exhibits from the past, present and future of the railways, with the site itself opening to the public for the first time in almost 50 years.

Britain’s biggest rail celebration will present a complete 15 in (381 mm) minimum-gauge railway, inspired by Sir Arthur Heywood’s experimental railway at Duffield Bank near Derby. The railway will offer rides behind Katie, the first locomotive built by Sir Arthur for the Eaton Hall Railway in 1896 and now owned by the Ravenglass and Eskdale Preservation Society.

Katie will be joined by Anne, built more than 100 years later by Exmoor Steam Railway and operating at Litchurch Lane courtesy of the Perrygrove Railway.

Tickets for the event sold out earlier this year. If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket, make sure to visit Katie and volunteers from the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society!