About us
225 Preservation CIC is a community interest organisation formed of rail industry professionals seeking to:
• preserve the legacy of the InterCity 225 for future generations.
• provide educational resources in the hopes of encouraging growth in the railway careers sector.
Ben Denton-Cardew is a specialist railway lawyer based in Suffolk as well as a Royal Naval Reserve Officer. Ben set up the 225 Group and served as founding director until 2025. Ben has also overseen some ambitious railway preservation successes over the past few years, including the saving of most of the Glasgow Subway 1980 Stock, a pair of Class 313s, and a great many Mark 3 coaches. Ben continues to play a leading role in the procurement of key components for heritage railway organisations of all shapes and sizes; he is also known for restoring classic cars.
Craig Owen is an entrepreneur and railway preservation expert based in Northumberland. Craig runs the renowned Quadtech motorcycle parts shop. As part of 125 Preservation, Craig owns enough power cars and Mark 3 coaches to make up a full InterCity 125, including the wonderful 43060 recently unveiled in GNER livery.
Graeme Gleaves is a train driver for Southeastern, based in London. Graeme is an authority on electric railway preservation, and almost single-handedly saved the exhibits from the Electric Railway Museum after its closure. He was also formerly the editor of the Suburban Electric Railway Association's magazine. Graeme brings superlative electrical engineering knowledge to the team.
Jacob Baldwin is a software developer based in Cambridge. He led Marketing and Comms for the 225 Group from 2021 to 2025, managing merchandising and creating a breakthrough digital archive of InterCity 225 workings. Previously, he was part of the Virgin Trains passenger panel during their refurbishment of the Mark 4 coaches, being involved in the project to fit seat reservation displays to the fleet.
James Moore is a duty resource manager at SWR based in Woking, having previously been a steward and guard. He volunteers as a Mental Health First Aider, for which he and his colleagues were nominated for the RailStaff Awards in 2025. He brings considerable experience of merchandising for promotions and preservation groups.
James Palmer is a senior digital manager for a nationalised train operating company. Based in the Midlands, he is also the Director of Retro Railtours, which has been operating day trip charter trains across the UK since 2008. He owns vintage vehicles of all shapes and sizes including a Class 101 DMU.
Jonny Dye is an integral part of the engineering team and works as a technical riding inspector on the InterCity 225s at Neville Hill depot in Leeds, keeping these iconic trains running at up to 125mph on the mainline on a daily basis.
Luke Harris is a senior Royal Naval Reserve Officer, with responsibility for the seamanship, communication and afloat first aid training and operations for all naval reservists in London and the South East. In civilian life, he is a commercial guard at SWR based at Woking.
Paul Wood is a train driver for LNER based near Leeds. Fortunate to have enjoyed the InterCity 225s for a large part of his career, Paul has had stints at both GBRf and DB Cargo, but has returned to drive the East Coast racehorses once again. Paul has a genuine passion for engineering excellence, which extends beyond railways into expert on tuning both BMW E39 M5s and Porsche 911s.
Will Quibell is a host for EMR based in Sheffield. He was an integral part of the Marketing and Comms team for the 225 Group until 2025, and has overseen the production of several ambitious rail tour propositions, which he is working to develop alongside both dining and event experiences for our coaches.