First some sites of people i’m following:
The Railway Blogger https://www.railwayblogger.com/
Christian Wolmar ( the rail blog, not the political one )
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/
A couple of lines i’m particulary interested in seeing but haven’t made it to yet
GCR ( heritage )
Welsh Highland and Festiniog https://www.festrail.co.uk/
Tracking Rails rise and fall…
Here i’ve found over the past couple of years online something that my (far) younger self would have almost wet himself to have constant access to !
I was always fascinated by maps as well as railways, so the fact that you can now roam freely over sites such as these means they’re possibly my favourite locations on the internet, as well as genuinely useful tools for those wanting to supplement narratives about particular lines.
The NLS maps site is already known to many rail enthusiasts
http://maps.nls.uk ( side-by-side mode )
Also it’s now at the stage where they have filled in much of the 25 inch to a mile mapping in England outside London.
This next one is just a useful reference all-round to track railways past and present, worldwide; https://www.openrailwaymap.org/
This is the currently-definitive British Isles reference http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php
And another https://www.britishrailways.tv/heritage-map/
And just generally to help with searches https://www.old-maps.co.uk
Next a site that has made me laugh on every page. It’s not exactly satire, and nothing to do with railways, but….
MIchael Kelly http://michaelkelly.artofeurope.com/
This is my Brothers site. As well as being a fan of his artistic ability, i also maintain the site, so why not link to it ? https://www.jasonskill.com
Although not a substitute for being able to buy the DVDs or download copies, being able to watch some of the National archives Railway-related items is a guilty pleasure that can while away an afternoon. Away from the mainline amateur footage and feature-film or documentary excerpts, I find particularly interesting the ‘Mining Review’ films… https://player.bfi.org.uk/node/7
Interesting article on the challenges of the biggest of Britains current ‘new build’ steam locos