Contribute

If you’re interested in contributing a written piece, great! Please read the guidelines on this page before sending anything in.

We will take care of formatting, design and publishing. You just need to write what you want to say.

A submission form is provided further down this page.

Contributing to the site

Here are some examples of who we’d like to hear from:

• Town/community champions
• Local business owners
• Individuals from local organisations
• Historians
• Union members of the TSSA
• Union members of the RMT
• County and borough council members and staff
• Members of the local press
• Commuters looking to get to and from Derby/Nottingham
• Train spotters/rail enthusiasts
• Anyone with knowledge of the exact train operators/routes/timetables

Sound and video

Feel free to record video and/or audio. YouTube and Soundcloud are free and offer ample storage space. YouTube appears to let you upload unlimited videos while Soundcloud gives 180 minutes free. If you upload it online, give us the link and we’ll embed it in your published article. 

Have a listen to this example:

Listen on Soundcloud

As a thankyou for contributing, a link back to a website of your choosing will be included in a dedicated author bio box beneath the article you write. If you don’t want to include a link, we can leave this part out. 

An author profile will be set up on your behalf including  a biographical blurb of a maximum 160 characters plus a thumbnail profile picture of yourself. You have the choice to be anonymous.

Best Practice Guidelines

• Write at least 500 words
• Use British spelling and grammar
• Save a copy to your machine before sending
• Do not send spam or blatant press release content
• Link to relevant/supporting websites/resources

Technical Tips

• Write your document in Microsoft Word (doc, docx format)
• If you don’t have Microsoft Office, use the free Open Office software (odt format)

Profile picture requirements

Please send a profile picture representing either yourself, your business or your organisation.

• You can upload your picture using the form at the bottom of this page.
• Alternatively, send your picture directly to us by email (details at bottom of this page.)

There is an image file size limit of 500kb. Images larger than this will be rejected automatically.

If your image is very large, use free software like Paint.Net to resize the image (less than 500kb in file size) and submit it. Preferred formats are .png or .jpeg.

Author bio and website link in article footer

We’ll give you a credit/attribution in the form of an author bio and website backlink. This is a short blurb of 160 characters displayed under the article.

Your profile picture is displayed to the left of the text.

Here are some examples:

Want to remain anonymous? No problem. We’ll use the following generic image and bio:

Article submission by direct email

You can send your word processed submission directly to [email protected]

A template is provided. Please use either the MS Word template (docx) or Open Office template (odt) – there are fields for all required information within the document and you just need to add your details.

If you have a general enquiry please use the email form on the contact page.

Article submission by contact form

You can use the submission form below to submit your details and attach a document and image.

Questions? Problems?

If you have quick questions but cannot send an email, leave a comment below and someone will respond as soon as possible.