About the Society
The RCTS is Britain’s leading organisation for people interested in all aspects of railways past, present and future and is highly regarded by both professional railway people and enthusiasts, a position it has held since its formation in 1928.
The RCTS is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, number 1169995. Our VAT number is GB197343335. More about Governance of the Society.
Click the image to view a sample edition
Guests
Try out the Society as a guest. Most of the meetings and events are open to visitors.
Donations appreciated.
The Railway Observer
All members receive the Society's magazine online, and a print edition (usually 72 pages) is posted to those choosing a "Printed" membership category.
The magazine covers the current railway scene, including extensive coverage of significant and interesting movements, plus an infrastructure and events update. Urban, Irish and International news is included, together with the latest news from Heritage lines.
Society activities, branch meetings, outdoor visits and rail tours are well represented, as are reviews of the latest publications.
Membership rates for new joiners
Printed RO Membership includes posting of the print edition of The Railway Observer
| Online RO | £9.50 |
| Printed RO UK | £16.50 |
| Printed RO Europe | £26.00 |
| Printed RO Rest of World | £31.00 |
New joiners are benefiting from a "Welcome" discount of 50%.
Volunteering
The Society is run entirely by volunteers, at branch level and nationally. If you have some spare time, and maybe some specialist skills, there are many ways you can help
- Publishing
- Image preparation
- Archiving
- Speaking
- Managing events
- Software development
- Administration
- Research
- Authorship
- Librarianship
News
Book launch – The Royal Scots
The Society is pleased to announce the publication of the latest volume in its Locomotives of the LMS series. This book is a detailed history of the LMS Royal Scot…
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Barrow Hill Open Day 2022
Special RCTS Members’ Day – Saturday August 27th 2022 We are excited by the prospects of a stunning Members’ Day on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday weekend this…
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Members Weekend 2022 – Reading
Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd October 2022 We have an exciting programme of events planned for the weekend, including visits to Didcot, Reading depot, and Fawley Hill. Please refer to…
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Members’ Day and AGM 9th April 2022
We are delighted to be able to hold a face-to-face Members’ Day and AGM this year. Please read the special AGM Supplement for full details of the day. AGM Supplement…
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Photograph archiving
January’s National Zoom meeting was a wonderful presentation by The Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Using the Zoom platform meant that the CRPA team could join us from Madison,…
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Website relaunched
The Society has had a website for about 20 years. It has grown from being a simple advertisement to being the main way for many members to interact with the…
Read MoreUpcoming events
Virtual events coming up...
There is programme of National events held online, typically monthly. Some branches run them too. Members from any branch may attend and guests are very welcome. There is no charge but donations would be appreciated to help defray the costs.
Pre-registration (on Zoom) is required. Open the event to find the registration link, and the donations link.
Meeting attendances are normally limited to 100.
On today
- No events scheduled for 11-Aug-2022. Jump to the next upcoming events.
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Society full calendar
Visit the branch pages to discover upcoming events in your specific area.
Calendar of Events
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Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch Visit to Nene Valley
Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch Visit to Nene Valley
A visit to the nearby Nene Valley Railway, including a tour of the workshops, Wansford signal box etc Meet 11:00am at Wansford. It is essential to book your place for…
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August 2022 National Zoom Meeting
August 2022 National Zoom Meeting
Currently being arranged: at present just a date for your diary, details will be added when available.
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125 Group – the Inter-City 125 in preservation
125 Group – the Inter-City 125 in preservation
Gary Heelas from the 125 Group gives a presentation on how the iconic Inter-City 125 is being preserved for future generations.
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The Rhymney Railway
The Rhymney Railway
On 2nd September we are pleased to welcome South Wales Branch Secretary, Peter Fortune to open our 2022/23 programme with a talk on the ‘Rhymney Railway’. Peter will be taking…
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Members' area
The latest edition of The Railway Observer, plus back copies from 2012
Details of benefits available to RCTS members
The directory of Society officers
Officers' administration tools
RCTS-branded clothing sales
Membership renewals for 2023 [opens October 2022]
Renewals for 2022
Access to the Members' Area is not available to lapsed members. Please renew here.
Branches
The Society has a national network of 28 branches. Each branch has its own committee and operates its own programme of events. Members are assigned to a home branch but are welcome to take part in other branches' activities.
Guests are always welcome.
Venues
Some branches have more than one regular meeting venue. Click any of the dots on the map to visit the branch page which contains details of contacts, venues, and events.
The map is interactive. You can pan and zoom to see more. Press the green Reset button to start again.
Features
The Society has several online information services maintained by our dedicated and knowledgeable members. The various features are regularly updated, and we welcome contributions from members and non-members alike.
Each feature has a editor. Click the images to explore.
Diesel Dilemmas
Mysteries and anomalies in the modification and disposal history of British Railways diesel locomotives.
Carriage Conundrums
Mysteries and anomalies in the modification and disposal history of British Railways locomotive hauled coaching stock.
Preserved Coaches
Additions, deletions, movements and modifications to lists of preserved railway rolling stock, regularly updated.
Haulage Highlights
Seasonal services, relief trains, special events and unusual routes, mostly with diesel traction.
East Coast Main Line
Some of the more unusual passenger train workings on the East Coast Main Line
Query Corner
Written queries and answers are published here and in The Railway Observer
“Our” Locos
A number of locomotives have proudly carried The Railway Observer nameplate or been associated with the Society. No, we don't own these locomotives, but they are thought of as "ours".
TOPS Reference Data
The Society maintains several datasets of TOPS data for Cl.01/5, Cl.89, Cl.97 and Cl.98 Locomotives, Depot Codes and Locomotive Pool Codes, all of which are regularly updated.
NEW - John Knight's Database of Railway Photography
John Knight is a picture researcher. His database of southern and western England records details of 172,000 images published in 6,500 books.
This RCTS Feature initially opens on an interactive map. When you zoom in, each yellow dot represents a camera location. The background can be changed between contemporary maps, satellite images, and historical Ordnance Survey maps - including the detailed 1:10,560 Series. The dot has a reference number for subsequent searches. Please allow a few seconds for the map to load fully.
There are several other tabs alongside the map. One is the User Guide which explains what data is available and how to undertake searches.
Other tabs are lists of books, authors, photographers, railway companies, locomotive classes, and the like. All are searchable.
NB. The database is an index only. For copyright reasons, the photographs are not reproduced, but there are live links to where each book is currently available to purchase. Usually these are second-hand booksellers.
Photographic archive
Over 50,000 images are available to purchase as prints or as digital downloads.
Purchases are managed by our service provider, Zenfolio.
Shop
The items listed below are currently available to purchase, some at sale prices. Click on the product images to read full details of each item.
RCTS members are advised to use the Shop pages in the Member's Area to gain access to exclusive products and special discounts.
Shipping is charged on the whole order. There is a flat rate of £3 for UK addresses, a percentage of the order value for non-UK address, calculated as the basket is added to.
Payment can be made by credit/debit card into the Society's Paypal account. You do not need your own Paypal account to use this service.
Second-hand books are sold by the Library. The list of books available is updated regularly, and is not limited to RCTS publications.
RCTS Publications
RCTS has been a renowned publisher of definitive books on locomotives and other railway subjects since 1935. The books are available online and trade enquiries are welcome. Many are now out of print but you can find a bibliography of all books by following More about RCTS Publications below.
Become an author? Click the button to find out more.
New printing technology means that it has become economic to republish some of the back catalogue, a process that is underway. If you cannot wait, copies are available to view at the Society's library at Leatherhead and second-hand copies may be available to purchase from there.
