2024 Branch AGM & Members’ Images
On Thursday 12th December, the Branch held its 2024 AGM at the Scots Guard Club, which should have been the last under the guidance of retiring Chairman Ken Falconer, but family problems meant he couldn't attend on this occasion so proceedings were led by Callum MacLeod. The Secretary reported on a successful year of indoor meetings, including the switch of venue from the Quakers' Meeting House to the Scots Guard Club, and the attendance at the two-day Perth Model Rail exhibition when two new members were recruited. The Treasurer reported a small loss over the 13 months since the last AGM, this mainly due to a sharp drop in book sales and a steep rise in speakers' expenses; however, on a more positive note, the room rental for the new venue was far cheaper than for the previous one and, because its location was much more convenient, more members were now attending and contributing a greater amount of door donations.
Following the ensuing nomination of 2024-25 committee members, Callum MacLeod was elected Chairman and re-elected as Treasurer, Richard Thorburn was re-elected Secretary and Sales Officer, Bill Miller and Ronnie McAdam were re-elected as committee members while President Ken Falconer was elected as a committee member. It was agreed that Ian Bain (who couldn't attend today) should be invited to re-join the committee with the role of Deputy Chairman, but this needs to be confirmed with him.

Class 19D on coaling tower at Beaconsfield shed Kimberley - Easter 1980
In his absence, Ken Falconer was warmly thanked for his decades of service to the Branch, first as Secretary then as Chairman / Treasurer. Following the conclusion of these formal proceedings, a break was taken when Christmas mince-pies (kindly supplied by our Secretary) and coffee (provided by the Scots Guard Club team, which had also heated the pies) were enjoyed by all present.
For the second half of the meeting, it turned out that only Callum MacLeod had brought in any images, these being 40 slides depicting the RCTS "Spoortrekkers" tour of South Africa held over the Easter holiday period of 1980. The pictures started with a journey on the famous "Blue Train" from Cape Town to Kimberley, followed by shed visits to Beaconsfield, De Aar, Alexanders Yard and Bloemfontein with lineside views along several steam-worked lines, including the 2ft-gauge sugar-cane lines in Natal.
The enormous Cape-gauge 4-8-4 Class 25 condensing locomotives, together with the similar-sized Class 25NC non-condensers, featured around the Kimberley-De Aar main line, alongside 4-8-2 Class 15ARs and 19Ds. 3ft.6in-gauge Garrett locomotives, mostly reduced to freight or shunting duties, also featured, but the 2ft-gauge Garretts in Natal were seen both working on their steeply-graded lines as well as some being on static display at various stations.

Class 19D 3341 on Maseru Ladybrand mixed train Easter 1980
Participants on this tour had included a young John Redgate, seen with other members on Kimberley station platform, who had subsequently served for many years as Society Treasurer, then Society Chairman, and was still a Trustee of the RCTS in its newer form as a CIO.
Also seen was a brief visit to Thaba N'chu station in the erstwhile Republic of Bophutatswana which was re-incorporated into South Africa in 1995. Back in 1980, an afternoon's linesiding was then enjoyed on the Ladybrand-Maseru main line that crosses the border into Lesotho which has Maseru as its capital.
Two non-railway slides seen were a memorial to the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift (made famous by the Stanley Baker / Michael Caine movie "Zulu") plus the remarkable discovery of a rare London Transport RTW bus at a preserved village in the Cape Province - an image which wrapped up today's show.
It was a shame that other members had not brought along their own contributions, but it did mean that the meeting finished early enough for our new Branch Chairman to pack up his slide-projection equipment, cross the street to the conveniently-located Haymarket station and catch LNER's 16.39 "Highland Chieftain" to Gleneagles, the nearest station to his home town of Crieff in southern Perthshire.