Railway enthusiast visits 2,500 UK train stations in 6 weeks in fundraising challenge

A railway enthusiast travelled to almost every train station in the UK in just six weeks as part of a fundraising challenge. David Jones, 34, spent a total of 441 hours visiting more than 2,500 stations.

David set off from the Three Bridges station, home to the Sussex Rail Operating Centre where he works as a control room train services manager for Govia Thameslink Railway, on February 19.

He travelled by train to every station and took a picture of its sign as he went. One of David’s rules for the challenge was that the trains had to stop at every station, not just pass through them. David visited 2,542 of the 2,580 stations in the UK after flooding stopped him from visiting some stations.

David took on the challenge to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Children’s Intensive Care Unit at Oslo’s University Hospital, where a friend was treated.

He said: "My friend had fallen ill in Norway and they decided to do a 1000-mile bike ride from Bedfordshire to Oslo but I didn't face riding the bike so being a train geek I decided to do this.”

David, from Blyth, Northumberland, has so far raised £2,460 which will be divided between the charities.

On completing his challenge at Inverness Station in Scotland on March 31, he said: "I feel a sense of achievement for what I have done. I feel overwhelmed by the support going into the final days. Smashing the money target is just fantastic."

You can donate to Dave’s fundraiser ‘Stop at all 2580 railway stations in Great Britain’ here.