Railways and Religion

The linked article explores some of the interactions between railways and religions.

The featured image for the article is a stained glass window in Emneth Parish Church which is a memorial to Revd. Wilbert Vere Awdry who served as the incumbent of the parish from 1953 to 1965. [9]

In his book ‘The World the Railways Made’, in a chapter entitled ‘The Habits the Railways Changed’, and after a discussion of the dramatic effect the railways had on the consumption of different foodstuffs, Nicholas Faith talks of the food the railways carried not only being physical:

“It was also spiritual, enabling pilgrims to travel far more easily. But there were natural hesitations before God-fearing folk were prepared to use such an obviously secular phenomenon. The Russian bishops, for instance, were afraid that ‘pilgrims would come to the monastery [Sergiev Posad (now Zagorsk), site of the sacred Troitsk monastery] in railway cars, in which all sorts of tales can be heard, and often dirty stories, whereas now they come on foot and each step is a feat pleasing to God’. Despite this reluctance, the Metropolitan himself opened the line from Moscow to the holy spot, and by the time the Trans-Siberian was opened, the church was happy to commission a splendid ‘church car’ to minister to the congregations en route."

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/07/11/railways-and-religion/