Transforming the West Highland Line
2024-08-29 19:30 - 22:00 (Europe/London) | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
Former Society Chairman and British Rail Business Manager Highland Callum MacLeod joins us to tell of the challenges that faced the West Highland Line in the early 1980s, and the changes, upgrades and transformation that followed in meeting and overcoming these through that decade. These included the introduction of RETB signalling and DMUs, together with the “Jacobite” steam trains, and the opening/reopening of Loch Awe, Loch Eil Outward Bound and Falls of Cruachan stations.
For this virtual event, you will require a ticket. Free for RCTS members, but a £2.50 donation will be requested at the checkout. Non-member tickets are £2.50. (Or you can join the Society in the same transaction to take advantage of members’ benefits)
To receive information on coming National (and other) Zoom meetings, please join the RCTS National Zoom E-mail List (RCTS-National@groups.io) by visiting https://groups.io/g/RCTS-National , or by e-mail to RCTS-National+subscribe@groups.io.

Archive & Library Open Day
2024-09-03 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-09-14 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-09-19 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-09-25 11:00 - 16:00 | RCTS Library, Leatherhead Station Approach, Leatherhead, KT22 7SQ, United Kingdom

‘Those Were the Years Those Were’ Part 2, by Michael Reade, 3rd September 2024
2024-09-03 19:00 - 21:30 | WFD Watford, Beechen Grove Baptist Church, Clarendon Road, Watford, WD17 1JJ, United Kingdom
Please note there is no meeting in August!
‘Those Were the Years Those Were’ Part 2 (With Apologies to Geoff Plumb).
Michael was able, during extensive business travel by rail and road in the U.K., to capture the rail scene in colour from 1960 to the end of mainline steam in 1968. Opportunities arose during lunchtimes and summer evenings in various industrial locations, and together with a London Midland Southern Area lineside permit used in various exotic locations such as Bushey, he photographed many freight workings as well as the dying embers of steam hauled passenger trips. He eschewed the madding crowds in the North West as he preferred to be the last shutter clicker standing.
Please note this is a physical meeting to be held at our usual venue at Beechen Grove Baptist Church, doors open from 18:30.

Varamis Rail ‘Faster, Cheaper, Greener’
2024-09-05 19:30 - 22:00 | MKY Milton Keynes, Network Rail - The Quadrant: MK, Elder Gate, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1EN, United Kingdom
Phil Read, Chief Executive Officer of Varamis Rail, gives a talk about The UK’s first high speed rail logistics company, providing fast, zero emission linehaul logistics services.

'The End of Steam on British Railways 1966-67' by Michael Smyth.
2024-09-06 19:30 - 22:00 | BTL North Filton, St Teresa’s Church Hall, 71 Gloucester Road, North Filton, BS34 7PL, United Kingdom
Michael Smyth’s presentation covers steam in the Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield areas plus the North East. Featured are the last working examples of many classes eg Jubilees, B1s, 2-6-4Ts, WDs, Q6s, & J27s.

Railways Around Cambridge by David Scudamore.
2024-09-09 19:15 - 21:45 | Greenfinch Hall,Greenfinch Avenue Ipswich IP2 0SQ

Observations at Tamworth & Water Orton
2024-09-10
Please note change of venue from the planned Heart of Wales Rover.

Afternoon Observation Meeting - Cardiff Central Station
2024-09-10 12:00 - 16:00 | Cardiff Station, Central Square,, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 1EP, United Kingdom

Pictures from the Harold Clements Collection, Part 1
2024-09-10 19:30 - 22:00 | CSL Croydon, East Croydon United Reformed Church, Addiscombe Grove, Croydon, CR0 5LP, United Kingdom
Bryan Cross comes to present a selection of monochrome images, all scanned directly from the Harold Clements collection of original Lantern slides, Glass plates and large format negatives. These were taken by Harold Clements, his Father and Grandfather. This presentation starts with images around Luton – from MR days in the 1880s to BR(M) in the 1950s; then of the LMS around Bedford in the 1930s; the LNER at Foxton & Whittlesford c1946; and on the LNER & BR Eastern Region at Cadwell Crossing (North of Hitchin) 1937 – 1953, before concluding with images of the Folkestone Harbour Branch in the 1950s.

"Britain's Military Railways" by Clive Pepper
2024-09-10 19:30 - 22:00 | CBR Fulbourn, Cambridge, The Swifts, Haggis Gap, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5HD, United Kingdom
Many Military sites in Britain once had, and in a few instances still have, internal railway systems. Illustrated by visits made between 1970 and 2000, this presentation provides a rare photographic record and history of such locations.

A Driver's Eye View - 48 Years on the Railway
2024-09-10 19:30 - 22:00 | HTC Hitchin, St Mark's Church, St Mark's Close, Lancaster Avenue, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1UR, United Kingdom
A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by Andy Grimmett.
In his own words –
My presentation looks mainly at the engineering side of my life on the railway, showing some of the areas l had to work at, plus a look at some of the various vehicles and equipment used, relative to the permanent way, spanning over 48 years in railway service at both Stratford MPD and Ilford Car Sheds.
Andy Grimmett
Doors open 19:00.

Welsh Narrow Gauge Railways : A Personal View 1990 - 2024
2024-09-11 19:00 - 21:30 | SWL Radyr, Cardiff, Old Church Rooms / Hen Ysgoldy'r Eglwys, Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff, CF15 8DF, United Kingdom
Alan Williams has been taking photos of the Welsh narrow gauge since I was a young lad, but it became a serious endeavour during the 1990s and since then I have accumulated a wealth of material, enough for a second show if the first one goes OK. It will be a personal view, not a potted history, and I will cover the developments and changes over the last 30 years as I saw them.

Images from Glass Plate Negatives - David Postle - Kidderminster Railway Museum
2024-09-16 14:00 - 16:00 | Cheylesmore Community Centre, Poitiers Road, Coventry 5JX, Poitiers Road, Cheylesmore,, Coventry, CV3 5JX
Our good friend, David Postle, from the Kidderminster Railway Museum will be presenting a selection of images scanned from original glass plate negatives. These images from the Museum’s archive have been restored to a very high standard.

Merseyrail Class 777 Review
2024-09-16 19:30 - 21:45 | MCN Bromborough, The Bromborough Suite. The Merebrook, Greenfields Avenue, Bromborough, Wirral, Merseyside, CH62 6DD, United Kingdom

On Great Eastern Metals From 1991 to Date
2024-09-16 19:30 - 22:30 | ESX Shenfield, Shenfield Parish Hall, 60 Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8LB, United Kingdom
Physical meeting at Shenfield Parish Hall
Our member, Geoff Brocket, is a prolific photographer, who always seems to be able to get the photos that no one else can. This outing covers photos on the Great Eastern Railway from 1991 to the present day. Like many of us, Geoff prefers locos to multiple units so expect to see the whole range of motive power used on this line over the last 25 years or so.
As these images are on 35mm slides, it is not possible to offer this talk via Zoom.

The Ivatt LMS 10000 Recreation Project
2024-09-17 19:00 - 21:30 | TVY Didcot, Didcot Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN, United Kingdom
The Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Society plan to recreate, and operate 10000.
In the first half of this presentation we look at the original twins LMS 10000 and 10001 (the first British mainline diesel electric locomotives), and their place in history. 10000 and 10001 were designed by H.G. Ivatt and built by the LMS at their Derby Loco Works in 1947 / 48. These locos proved many parts and concepts that are still in use on the railway network today. However before the preservation movement had started to take notice of historically important diesel locomotives, 10000 was scrapped in 1968.
In the second half of this presentation we look at the current project which is planning to recreate 10000. In recent years this has progressed to the construction of a locomotive chassis in 2022.

HSD branch - My medium format in the 90s
2024-09-17 19:30 - 22:00 | HSD Hull, The Highway, Willerby Road, Hull, HU5 5LH, United Kingdom
Eddie Parker- “My medium format in the 90s”

Changing Trains in the 1980's
2024-09-18 19:30 - 22:00 | SOE Eastleigh, Junction Church (formerly Eastleigh Railway Institute), 2 Romsey Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9FE, United Kingdom

CHM Branch - An 11th Colour-Rail journey - 1964 - an interesting year
2024-09-19 19:00 - 22:00 | CHM Cheltenham, Victory Club, Burlington House, Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2SY, United Kingdom
For the first meeting of our 2024/25 season we welcome Paul Chancellor back to present the 11th iteration of his ‘A Colour-Rail Journey. This will focus on 1964 – an interesting year. The gloom hanging over the country’s railway system following publication of the report The Reshaping of Britain’s Railways had yet to completely descend, so there was much for enthusiasts to still enjoy and photograph. We see the fruits of their labours collected and remastered by the Colour-Rail team.

SRY Branch - Railwayman - Man and Boy
2024-09-19 19:15 - 21:30 | SRY Woking, Woking United Reform Church, White Rose Lane, Woking, GU22 7HA, United Kingdom
Railwayman – Man and Boy
By Jim Lester who was a Passed Driver on steam who fired on Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral train and drove the last steam trains from Waterloo.

How We Built The Watercress Line
2024-09-23 19:30 - 22:00 | MHD Cox Green, Cox Green Community Centre, Highfield Lane, Cox Green, Maidenhead, SL6 3AX, United Kingdom
The early preservation years and the Alton extension 1973 – 85

Through Kirton Tunnel - Sheffield to Cleethorpes
2024-09-24 14:00 - 16:30 | HTC Welwyn, Digswell Village Church Hall, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0DH, United Kingdom
A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by Stephen Gay.
Our annual presentation from Stephen. Expect to hear the story behind each of the photos. Also expect to hear his poetry.
Doors open 13:30

'On and off the footplate' by Bill Davies
2024-09-25 14:00 - 16:30 | NHN Roade, Roade Village Hall, Bailey Brooks Lane, Roade, Northampton, NN7 2LS, United Kingdom

Watercress Line Film Unit
2024-09-25 19:15 - 21:30 | CHR Bassil Shippam Centre, Tozer Way, St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7LG, United Kingdom
From ‘History’ to ‘How it works’, the Watercress Films Unit only formally came into existence a few years ago. Since creation Will and his team have boosted the railway’s publicity on youtube with followers regularly tuning in to find out more about the Watercress Line. In this talk Will takes us through the creation of the film unit, some notable projects and dives into the behind the scenes magic that goes into making an episode.

"A West Riding Roundabout"
2024-09-26 19:30 - 21:30 | WRD Shipley, Saltaire Methodist Church, Saltaire Road, Shipley, BD18 3HJ, United Kingdom

Steam in Romania and Elsewhere
2024-09-26 19:30 - 22:00 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
A two part presentation, by two of our German stalwarts.
In the first half, Helmut Dahlhaus will show photos by his late brother Hans Dieter Dahlhaus of steam on Căile Ferate Române (Romanian Railways) between 1968 and 1980, to be followed from some his own images of steam in Czechoslovakia.
For a more powerful express loco in the 1930s, CFR chose the impressive Austrian 214 (later 12) class 2-8-4 design, seen here as 142 044 works a photograhic charter near Negreni in September 1998. Photo credit: Günter Oczko
For the second half, Günter Oczko will show images from charters he ran in Romania between 1995 and 1999, together with some of steam in China to round off the evening.
For this virtual event, you will require a ticket. Free for RCTS members, but a £2.50 donation will be requested at the checkout. Non-member tickets are £2.50. (Or you can join the Society in the same transaction to take advantage of members’ benefits)
To receive information on coming National (and other) Zoom meetings, please join the RCTS National Zoom E-mail List (RCTS-National@groups.io) by visiting https://groups.io/g/RCTS-National , or by e-mail to RCTS-National+subscribe@groups.io.

Members Weekend 2024
2024-09-27 - 2024-09-29 | The Royal Maritime Hotel, 75-80 Queen Street, Portsmouth, PO1 3HS, United Kingdom
Members Weekend 2024 based in Portsmouth.
Including the RCTS Officers Conference on Sunday 29th September. Full details are to be found at https://rcts.org.uk/members-weekend-2024-news/
The Harbour & Spinnaker Tower
