The Railway Correspondence & Travel Society

WEN - David Hunt : More 1970s and 80s Nostalgia
2025-12-20 19:00 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | WEN Exeter [Mint Methodist Church], Fore Street, Exeter, EX4 3AT, United Kingdom
For our Christmas meeting, David Hunt will be entertaining us with a traditional slide show with more 1970s and 1980s nostalgia from his extensive archive. The evening promises to take us North East South and West as David entertains us with his travels on the national network with plenty of photos off the beaten track, or is that the cinder path from the old IA locoshed directories…

Bristol Meeting - Christmas Buffet and Members Evening.
2025-12-19 19:30 - 22:00 | BTL North Filton, St Teresa’s Church Hall, 71 Gloucester Road, North Filton, BS34 7PL, United Kingdom
Christmas Buffet and members 15 minute presentations.

WRD - Christmas Railway Quiz
2025-12-18 19:30 - 22:00 | WRD Shipley, Saltaire Methodist Church, Saltaire Road, Shipley, BD18 3HJ, United Kingdom
Thinking caps on folks – John Holroyd hosts our Branch Christmas Railway Quiz

Surrey Branch - Railway Preservation Society of Ireland Part 2
2025-12-18 19:15 - 21:30 | SRY Woking, Woking United Reform Church, White Rose Lane, Woking, GU22 7HA, United Kingdom
Surrey Branch – October 2025 Meeting
Railway Preservation Society of Ireland Part 2
Preceeded by the RCTS Surrey Branch AGM

CHM Branch - Swindon Works - the Final Years
2025-12-18 19:00 - 22:00 | CHM Cheltenham, Victory Club, Burlington House, Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2SY, United Kingdom
RCTS President Canon Brian Arman returns with more thoughts on the final years of Swindon Works

NEA Branch - On BR Tracks Part 1 - 1975-1979
2025-12-18 19:00 - 21:30 | NEA Darlington, Darlington Cricket Club, South Terrace, Darlington, DL1 5JD, United Kingdom
Presented by Barry Burns

15 in 15
2025-12-17 19:30 - 22:00 | SOE Eastleigh, Junction Church (formerly Eastleigh Railway Institute), 2 Romsey Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9FE, United Kingdom
Members pictures and festive buffet

Special Members Presentations (follows short AGM)
2025-12-17 19:15 - 21:30 | CHR Bassil Shippam Centre, Tozer Way, St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7LG, United Kingdom
Three local members present a fascinating mix of railway
related images. Ardrian Willats will cover Preserved Railways
from 1982-2018. Ian Mckey has many tales and pictures to show
from his UK rail journeys spread far and wide. Roger Sandford
will show images taken by the late Bruce Oliver, a real UK pot
pourri, but also including many local scenes from the past.

TVY Branch - My time inside the Wall - Memories of Swindon Works
2025-12-16 14:00 - 16:30 | TVY Didcot, Didcot Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN, United Kingdom
Martin, who is well known to many of our RCTS Branch members, having been the host of our successful Swindon Works railway sites tour which we ran last year, comes from a long family line of Swindon railway employees. In this talk Martin will give us some of his personnel experiences of life inside Swindon Works in the 1970s and 80s. Martin started his railway career in the early 1970s, taking up an apprenticeship in the railway works, before moving on to do a number of roles within the works. In this talk Martin will give us some stories and details of the various activities and projects he worked upon within the works, during his nine years of Swindon works employment.

Archive And Library Open Day - CANCELLED
2025-12-16 11:00 - 16:00, 2025-12-10 11:00 - 16:00, 2025-12-04 11:00 - 16:00 | RCTS Library, Leatherhead Station Approach, Leatherhead, KT22 7SQ, United Kingdom
Archive And Library Open Day- CANCELLED
Cancelled due to ongoing interior works by Govia Thameslink Railway.

AGM followed by Member’s slides/presentations
2025-12-15 19:30 - 22:30 | ESX Shenfield, Shenfield Parish Hall, 60 Hutton Road, Shenfield, CM15 8LB, United Kingdom
Physical meeting at Shenfield Parish Hall some parts of which will also be available on Zoom as a Hybrid Meeting. The meeting will commence with the AGM itself followed by member’s digital images all of which will be available also via Zoom. We will show member’s 35mm slides in the hall at the end of the meeting and since it is not possible to show these via Zoom, the hybrid meeting will end after all digital presentations have been given.
The physical meeting at Shenfield Parish Hall will include festive fare and a festive raffle. Admission for this meeting will be free for members and just £1.00 for guests. There will be no Zoom fee either for this meeting but you will still need to register as normal.

All about the Letter 'A' - Mike Dodd
2025-12-15 14:00 - 16:00 | Cheylesmore Community Centre, Poitiers Road, Coventry 5JX, Poitiers Road, Cheylesmore,, Coventry, CV3 5JX
In this presentation our speaker, Mike Dodd, from the Restoration & Archiving Trust, takes us on a global tour to countries beginning with the Letter ‘A’ including Australia, Argentina and Austria. He will also take us to places in the UK which also begin with with the Letter ‘A’.

That Was The Year That Was - 1963
2025-12-11 19:00 - 21:30 | PBR Peterborough, St Luke’s Church, Mayor's Walk, Peterborough, PE3 6EZ, United Kingdom
Geoff Plumb visits us to show images of railway operations in 1963.
A nostalgic record of a time of great change on our railways, this is sure to be an interesting evening.

2025 Scottish Branch AGM, followed by Members' Slide or Digital Presentations
2025-12-11 14:30 - 16:30 | SCT Edinburgh, Scots Guards Club, 2 Clifton Terrace,, Edinburgh, EH12 5DR, United Kingdom
Members able to contribute any presentation are asked to notify the Branch Secretary beforehand.
Coffee and festive mince pies will be served at the break.

Narrow Gauge around the World
2025-12-10 19:00 - 22:00 | SWL Radyr, Cardiff, Old Church Rooms / Hen Ysgoldy'r Eglwys, Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff, CF15 8DF, United Kingdom
Following on from his talks on the railways of South Africa and Cuba, renowned local Photographer Tony Wardrobe will be sharing what promises to be a fascinating selection of images focusing on those railways with a gauge of less than standard.
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30 start, our preloved book stall will be available for you to make some Christmas gift purchases and there will be our regular complimentary tea and coffee available at half time, along with our competitively priced KitKats

AGM and Members' Photographs
2025-12-09 19:30 - 22:00 | CBR Fulbourn, Cambridge, The Swifts, Haggis Gap, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5HD, United Kingdom
Tuesday 9thDecember is our AGM, followed my Members’ Photographs.
The Agenda for the AGM can be found here and the Chairman’s Report is here.

The Epping and Ongar Railway
2025-12-09 19:30 - 22:00 | CSL Croydon, East Croydon United Reformed Church, Addiscombe Grove, Croydon, CR0 5LP, United Kingdom
The Epping to Ongar Line was originally a Great Eastern Railway branch line, and later became part of the London Underground. Following closure, there were various proposals over its future, before it became a heritage railway – one of the nearest ones to us – as which it is now well established. Tonight Eddie Veckranges will be coming to tell its story, and what plans it has for the future.

Branch Social event with member's contributions
2025-12-09 19:00 - 21:30 | EMD Nottingham, The New Mechanics, 3 North Sherwood Street, Nottingham, NG1 4EZ, United Kingdom
A social evening with wine and mince pies and short contributions from the members – starts at 7pm

Sheffield Branch – Meeting Cancelled
2025-12-09 19:00 - 21:00 | SFD Sheffield Farm Road Sports & Social Club, Farm Road, Sheffield, S2 2TP, United Kingdom
As this planned meeting date clashes with a home match for Sheffield United, the committee have decided that it would be prudent to cancel.

Sugar, Steam and Sunsets (Java)
2025-12-09 14:00 - 16:30 | HTC Hitchin, St Mark's Church, St Mark's Close, Lancaster Avenue, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1UR, United Kingdom
A Hitchin and Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by David Longman.
In the early years of this century, David Longman made a series of trips to photograph the remaining steam locomotives working on the narrow gauge sugar lines in Java. Unwilling to join an organised group he travelled the length of the island by bus, motorcycle and becak, locating the various ‘pabrik gula’ and bringing back a snapshot not only of the railways but also the lives of the people of this Indonesian island. Whilst there is now little or nothing left of these wonderful little railways, as road transport has rendered them largely redundant, David will be recalling the people he met, the ‘Beast Of Tasik Madu’ and places his visited during his photographic wanderings.
Doors open 13:30 for a 14:00 start.
There will be an extended interval break! (with Christmas “nibbles”)

Railways to the Sea
2025-12-09 13:30 - 16:00 | HSD Hull, The Highway, Willerby Road, Hull, HU5 5LH, United Kingdom

Visit to Stafford
2025-12-09

AGM and members' contributions, Northampton Branch Meeting
2025-12-08 14:00 - 16:30 | NHN Northampton – Weston Favell, Weston Favell Parish Hall, Booth Lane South, Northampton, NN3 3EP, United Kingdom

Bristol Meeting - 'The Swansea Vale Railway' by John Miles.
2025-12-05 19:30 - 22:00 | BTL North Filton, St Teresa’s Church Hall, 71 Gloucester Road, North Filton, BS34 7PL, United Kingdom
The Swansea Vale Railway was a major factor in the life of the Swansea Valley for well over 100 years. Origionally an independent concern, it was taken over by the Midland Railway and hence linked through to the rest of the UK via Brecon. John Miles tells the story of the railway, its employees and passengers.

Milton Keynes Branch Meeting - Branch AGM followed by member's presentations
2025-12-04 19:30 - 21:30 | MKY Milton Keynes, Network Rail - The Quadrant: MK, Elder Gate, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1EN, United Kingdom
Branch AGM followed by member’s presentations.
The formalities of the AGM are normally concluded in a timely manner, so please also join us for some fun presentations afterwards and maybe a quiz or two!

FLL - Branch AGM followed by a video presentation
2025-12-03 19:30 - 22:00 | FLL Carnforth, Royal Station Hotel, Market Street, Carnforth, LA5 9BT, United Kingdom
After our Branch AGM Colin Kennington will show us some videos taken in Germany, Manchester and diversions over the Settle and Carlisle.

Steam & Diesel in the Northern Fells since 2017 by Ian Pilkington
2025-12-03 13:30 - 15:45 | MCN Liverpool, Haig House Social Club, Woolton Road, Garston, Liverpool, L19 5NQ, United Kingdom

WFD Branch – ‘Members’ Presentations’, plus Lizzie’s Mince Pies and Sausage Rolls! 2nd December 2025
2025-12-02 19:00 - 21:30 | WFD Watford, Beechen Grove Baptist Church, Clarendon Road, Watford, WD17 1JJ, United Kingdom
Another chance for Watford Branch members to show off your prowess with a camera (but don’t worry about the quality, feel the width!) – stills or videos, film or digital *. Please bring along some 35mm slides or image files on a memory stick or DVD disc and we’ll endeavour to treat everyone to your photographic efforts – any railway related subjects welcome! Branch members will be given priority, visitors are welcome to bring material as well. Festive refreshments will be available at the half-time break. Please restrict your presentations to around ten minutes running time, so that as many members as possible can contribute.
* Unfortunately we are not able to present ciné film.
Please note this is a physical meeting, doors open from 18:30 for 19:00 commencement of proceedings.
