Best Tim Barton Podcasts (2026)

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#844: Be Still — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman 8:31

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3m ago8:31

8:31

This episode is part of a series called Meditation Monday. The teacher, Henry Shukman, has been on my podcast twice before. He is one of only a few dozen masters in the world authorized to teach Sanbo Zen, and now, he’ll be your teacher. In addition to my long-form interviews each week, every Monday I’ll bring you a short 10-minute or so meditation…

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America’s Principles, Power, And Prosperity 26:59

2h ago26:59

26:59

If you care about why some nations flourish while others stall, this conversation puts real substance behind the answer. We dig into the ideas that anchor a free people—rights that don’t come from a vote, limits that bind power, and a moral center that turns law into trust. With former Congressman Bob McEwen, we connect those foundations to the eve…

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Linda Brinklow – Celebrating Railway 200 on the Isle of Sheppey 10:59

4h ago10:59

10:59

As Linda Brinklow steps down from her role as Chair of the Swale Branch of the Kent Community Rail Partnership, she reflects on a huge year of rail for the community of the Isle of Sheppey, its school children and rail users.By Railway 200

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Riku Fryderyk – Remembering Ian Marchant and a Railway of Dreams 9:31

7h ago9:31

9:31

Inspired by Railway 200, YouTuber, Storyteller and documentary maker Riku has produced 2 films around key events and moments in the 200 year history of the rail industry. Their research and narrative has been strongly influenced by the late Ian Marchant; author, broadcaster and rail enthusiast. In this Great Rail Tale, Riku describes how Ian inspir…

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Richard Woods – Remembering the 150th anniversary of Rail 4:36

3h ago4:36

4:36

82-year-old Richard Woods was introduced to railway modelling when he was bought a Hornby OO as a young boy. This sparked a passion that took him to his local model railway club and eventually on to the Cavalcade celebrations at Shildon for 150th anniversary of rail. In this Great Rail Tale, Richard recalls that special day on 27th September 1975.…

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Tim Dunn - a lifetime shaped by the metropolitan railway and expressed through Railway 200 7:28

4h ago7:28

7:28

Rail historian and broadcaster Tim Dunn’s connection to the railways goes back to his grandpa who left Tim his many hundreds of railway books when he died when Tim was just a young boy. Tim read about the world through the lens of railway history and it ignited his life long passion for the railways. His dad worked for British Rail as a surveyor an…

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Christmas Courage From The Governor’s Office 26:59

2h ago26:59

26:59

A governor’s Christmas proclamation that actually says what Christmas is about. A president joking with kids about cookies while thanking service members. Federal agencies quietly restoring room for faith at work and school. The start of 2026 comes packed with moments that reveal where conviction and culture meet—and why it matters. We open with Ar…

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Joanne Ormesher – The Llangollen Firecracker 11:18

32m ago11:18

11:18

As a young girl Joanne loved spending time with her grandfather in his model workshop. He called her his “firecracker”. He died when Joanne was 13 and her love for the railway went on hold until one day when she was commuting to work and saw a steam engine heading for Preston. That was a sliding doors moment in Joanne’s life, the fire in her for st…

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619: Airline Charged Me $65 - So I built a $250M Competitor | Adam Ewart 47:38

11m ago47:38

47:38

Adam Ewart turned a £50 excess baggage fee into a global bootstrapped logistics company operating in 145 countries, generating over $250 million a year, and staying profitable for 15 straight years. In this interview, Adam breaks down how he built Send My Bag, the international luggage shipping service moving more than 250,000 bags annually with on…

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#843: Tactics and Strategies for a 2026 Reboot — Essentialism and Greg McKeown (Repost) 1:47:11

4d ago1:47:11

1:47:11

Greg McKeown is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. 200,000 people receive his weekly 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter, and he recently released The Essentialism Planner: A 90-Day Guide to Accomplishing More by Doing Less. Sponsors: Momentou…

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Learning History Through Stories 26:59

38m ago26:59

26:59

New year, new habit: let’s make this the year we actually learn how freedom works. We kick things off by swapping stale timelines for stories that stick—showing why kids (and adults) fall in love with history when they meet real people first and fit the dates around character and consequence. From Abigail Adams to George Washington Carver, narrativ…

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John Simpson – From New York to Shildon 8:49

2h ago8:49

8:49

John Simpson grew up surrounded by and travelling on the New York subway. His passion for trains today is an evolution from his boyhood love of Thomas and Friends that has taken him around the world. In this Great Rail Tale, John describes how it was a visit to the Golden Spike celebrations in 2019 in Utah that made him make a pilgrimage to Shildon…

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David Vs. Goliath Goes Big 26:59

1h ago26:59

26:59

Giants don’t only live on battlefields. They show up in our homes, our timelines, and our headlines—and that’s why this new animated musical about David is landing like a thunderclap for families. We sit down with Brian Stivale, the voice of Samuel, to explore how a film can be both wildly entertaining and spiritually grounding without pretending t…

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Bob Barton – Cheers! The pubs and refreshment rooms of the railway 11:21

2h ago11:21

11:21

The original fast food came from compulsory comfort stops on the early rail network where trains would stop for a few minutes and passengers would jump out, eat several courses in a few minutes and jump back aboard before the train pulled away. These refreshment rooms as they became known gave birth to the railway inn and stations pubs as we know t…

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#842: The Story Behind EpiPen, The Rise of Food Allergies, and What Doctors Got Wrong 58:41

6d ago58:41

58:41

This time around, we have an experimental format, featuring the first episode of a brand-new podcast launching next week, Drug Story. I rarely feature episodes from other shows, but I think this one is well worth your time. It changed how I think about allergies, especially as someone who carries an EpiPen and has wondered: why on earth have food a…

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618: (Solo) What 5 World-Class Founders Taught Me This Year 11:09

10m ago11:09

11:09

Every year I sit down with some of the world’s most fascinating founders — but this year’s interviews hit me harder than most. Reinvention, resilience, copycats, failure, loneliness after exits, scrappy launches, identity crises… these conversations changed the way I think about leadership and what it means to keep building when things get tough. I…

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Israel, Borders, And The Battle For Truth 26:59

2h ago26:59

26:59

A frontline ally says it needs to win, and we’re told to tell them not to. That tension sits at the heart of our conversation with Michelle Bachmann as we unpack Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the daily grind of terror, and the cost of stopping short under international pressure. We dig into why “no partner for peace” isn’t a slogan but a strategic rea…

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Emma Roberts – Railway 200’s Programme Manager 19:09

3h ago19:09

19:09

From the genesis of the idea in early 2022 Emma Roberts has lived and breathed Railway 200 every day since. Early hopes of 100 events across the year quickly exploded into over 5000 celebratory activities across all aspects of rail around the UK. In a personal Great Rail Tale Emma describes how the Whistle-Up bought the reality of the year starkly …

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Nigeria, Faith, And A Hard Line 26:59

2h ago26:59

26:59

A quiet holiday reset gives way to a hard question: when should America act to stop mass killing abroad? We sit down with Rudy Atala, Deputy Senior Director of Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, to unpack the U.S. strike that rattled ISIS-linked militants and Fulani warlords in Nigeria’s north. Rudy explains how years of targeted vi…

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Dr Mike Esbester and Gordon Churchill – Remembering Arthur Churchill and the Railway Orphanages 13:16

2h ago13:16

13:16

Mike and Gordon recall the role of the Railway Orphanages. The rail industry hasn’t always been the pioneers of safety they are today. In times gone by, the accident rate in the rail industry was much higher and accidents often very severe. The Railway Orphanages were set up to support and care for the children of railway workers were killed in the…

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Christmas Plus One: Good News And Grit 26:59

3h ago26:59

26:59

Christmas may be over, but we’re still counting the days with a grin—and counting the wins from a year that felt like a reset. We open with a culture-shifting story out of Washington: a packed, worship-forward Christmas show at the newly rebranded Trump Kennedy Center. Our guest, worship leader and pastor Charles Billingsley, takes us behind the sc…

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Adrian Greenwood – Falling in love with the sound of trains 13:17

5h ago13:17

13:17

Sound recordist Adrian Greenwood discovered his combined love of trains and their sounds as a young boy standing on bridges watching freight trains pass underneath him and his father. In this special Great Rail Tale, Adrian takes us into his sound archive to hear some of his favourite train sounds, including the sound of a prototype Intercity 125 r…

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617: How A Failing Skincare Brand Became An 8-Figure Makeup Empire | Aliett Buttelman 52:49

24h ago52:49

52:49

Aliett Buttelman spent eight years grinding in the dark before a single viral moment with Taylor Swift turned Fazit into an overnight seven-figure brand. In this interview, Aliett breaks down the exact pivot that saved the company, how she identified product-market fit after years of plateauing at $20K per month, and the organic social strategy tha…

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Santa Claus Before The Sleigh 26:59

2h ago26:59

26:59

A secret bag of gold. A midnight window. A bankrupt father praying his daughters won’t be sold. We trace the astonishing true story of Nicholas of Myra and watch how a third-century bishop became the world’s most recognizable giver. This isn’t a North Pole fairy tale; it’s a tour through persecution, courage, theology and tradition that formed the …

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Christmas All Year And Why It Matters 26:59

1d ago26:59

26:59

A few notes of Christmas music set the scene, but the heart of this conversation is bigger than a holiday playlist. We look back on a year where gratitude turned into action: policy wins that reopened space for faith in schools, new training programs that doubled in size, and unexpected doors at the highest levels that accelerated long-laid plans. …

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Ian Lavery MP and Caroline Ball – World Cup Winner Ashington 10:56

1d ago10:56

10:56

When Ashington Station reopened in December 2024, having been closed as part of the Beeching cuts, the impact of the railway on this north east town has been more than ever imagined, it has been described as life changing for the community. The town was home to World Cup winners Jack and Bobby Charlton, along with fellow footballer Jackie Milburn. …

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#841: Arthur Brooks — Finding The Meaning of Your Life, The Poet's Protocol, The Holy Half-Hour, and Why Your Suffering is Sacred 2:10:02

13d ago2:10:02

2:10:02

Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. His next book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, will be released on March 31, 2026. This episode is brought to you by: Humann’s SuperBeets Sport for endurance and recov…

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Why Getting Dad Back Home Changes Everything 26:59

2d ago26:59

26:59

Start with the hard truth: you can’t fix culture if you ignore the home. We sit down with Jack Brewer—former NFL captain turned fatherhood advocate—to unpack why the most stubborn problems in crime, education, and reentry trace back to one root issue: fatherlessness. Jack tells the story of growing up with an engaged dad while watching talented cou…

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616: (Solo) 5 Honest Business Lessons I’m Taking Into 2026 8:36

12d ago8:36

8:36

2025 has been one of the most eye-opening years of my founder journey — personally, professionally, and strategically. Instead of sharing a highlight reel, I want to share the real lessons that moved the needle for me. Some changed how I think about business. Others changed how I think about myself. In this episode, I break down the five biggest le…

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Clare Wildfire – Great Great Great Grandaughter of rail pioneer Edward Pease 3:41

3d ago3:41

3:41

Railway 200 has caused Clare Wildfire to reflect and reconnect with her ancestral legacy of industrialist Edward Pease, one of the leading lights in the launch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Edward Pease was visionary in being able to project into the future about how the railway will change lives and communities. Today Clare is involved i…

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From Packed Breakouts To Policy: Revival, History, And A Minnesota Fraud Reckoning 26:59

3d ago26:59

26:59

The line formed before sunrise, security opened, and the room filled until the fire marshal closed the doors—twice. That kind of turnout for an early-morning history session says something bigger is stirring. We dig into why people are chasing origins again as the 250th nears, and how a renewed appetite for primary sources, founding debates, and re…

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Findlay Napier – Firecracker on 21st Century Folk 12:44

4d ago12:44

12:44

Folk singer songwriter Findlay Napier recalls writing “Firecracker”, a song he wrote about Joanne Ormesher as part of BBC Radio 2’s 21st Century folk project which this year celebrated Railway 200, turning rail stories into songs, written and performed by top musicians like Findlay. Listen to Firecracker and all of the 21st Century Folk songs celeb…

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Steve Williams – A journey like no other 8:22

6d ago8:22

8:22

Driver and Permanent Way operative Steve Williams drives a train like no other in the country. With a top speed of 6.5 mph, a maximum gradient of 20% and with no connection between the engine and passenger carriage, the Snowdon Mountain Railway opened in 1896 and has been carrying tourists and day trippers to summit of Snowdon ever since. After a t…

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Restoring The Chaplain Corps 26:59

6d ago26:59

26:59

A clear moral voice is returning to the ranks. We break down a major shift inside the Pentagon that elevates chaplains from wellness facilitators back to pastors and shepherds—restoring the historic role that once helped cadets and warfighters wrestle with duty, restraint, and the ethics of lethal force. Drawing from George Washington’s orders and …

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615: Stop Chasing Sexy Businesses - This Boring One Made Me $500M+ | David Royce 58:01

14d ago58:01

58:01

David Royce went from a broke college kid in a door-to-door pest control job to building and selling four service businesses for nine-figure exits by applying Silicon Valley systems to an unsexy blue-collar industry.In this interview, he breaks down exactly how he scaled Aptive Environmental to over $500M in revenue, created a training engine that …

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Hamilton, Rumors, And The Record 26:59

7d ago26:59

26:59

Rumors move fast; context moves truth. We kick off with a listener question about Alexander Hamilton and follow the paper trail from a single 1976 claim to the everyday realities of 18th‑century life. Sharing beds in crowded inns, the language of friendship in an older era, and the difference between primary sources and agenda-driven readings all c…

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Dr Bob Nicholson – The birth of the platform bookstore 8:03

8d ago8:03

8:03

The train is a place of reading says Dr Bob Nicholson, Historian of Victorian Culture. Time spent on the train has always been used as a time to read. Today that might be on a smartphone, but before news apps, audio books and digital readers, rail travellers would buy newspapers, books and specifically edited journals and magazines designed for the…