Steam in the Kings Cross Area - in the 50's and 60's
2024-01-30 14:00 - 16:30 (Europe/London) | HTC Welwyn, Digswell Village Church Hall, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0DH, United Kingdom
A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation.
Presenter: David Percival.
It was in 1953 that the Percival family moved from South London to North Hertfordshire. For the next ten years, until the end of regular steam in the area, David spotted at the ECML lineside, travelled by train to school and latterly commuted to Kings Cross.
This presentation chronicles the variety of steam classes and workings he observed “on the GN” during that decade, illustrated with photographs from ColourRail and others as well as some of his own pictures taken in the closing years.
This photo shows 64206 shunting the morning Hitchin-Hertford ‘pick up’ at Langley Junction on 17 January 1959 (photo by Basil Coles). This image is in the presentation.
Doors open 13:30.

East West Rail Update & The Newport Nobby
2024-02-01 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
Join us for another evening of members’ presentations on Zoom. Clive Pepper will present an update on the developments with East West Rail and Steve Dexter will take a look back at the Newport Pagnell branch line.

an accidental but joyous career on the railways
2024-02-02 19:30 - 21:30
eddie pollock will guide us through his working life on the railways

2 February 2024 'Steam & Semaphores to Penzance', presented by Nick Dudman.
2024-02-02 19:30 - 22:00 | BTL North Filton, St Teresa’s Church Hall, 71 Gloucester Road, North Filton, BS34 7PL, United Kingdom
Maurice Dudman’s excellent slides presented by his son Nick. In Part 1 we reached Weston-Super-Mare and so tonight we will continue on to Penzance.

Archive and Library Open Day
2024-02-03 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-02-08 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-02-14 11:00 - 16:00, 2024-02-20 11:00 - 16:00 | RCTS Library, Leatherhead Station Approach, Leatherhead, KT22 7SQ, United Kingdom

RCTS West of England Branch Meeting "The Barnstaple & Okehampton Branches through the years" David Mitchell
2024-02-03 19:00 - 21:30 | WEN Exeter [Mint Methodist Church], Fore Street, Exeter, EX4 3AT, United Kingdom
RCTS West of England Branch meeting will feature another talk by Branch Chair David Mitchell with a talk entitled “The Barnstaple & Okehampton Branches through the years” – a mix with mainly B&W oldies more modern, mainly colour stuff from Dave camera.
*******PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE******** Owing to Parking issues at the Mint the meeting has been brought forward to 03/02/24

‘Railways in and around World War Two’, by Robin Mathams
2024-02-06 19:00 - 21:30 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
Note this is a Virtual Zoom Meeting for which you can register via the ‘Register with Zoom’ link below. There is no charge for this meeting but donations would be gratefully received, these can be made by following the ‘organiser’ link, also below.

AGM followed by North Wales Freight - the Edgar Richards Collection
2024-02-07 13:30 - 15:45 | MCN Liverpool, Haig House Social Club, Woolton Road, Garston, Liverpool, L19 5NQ, United Kingdom

108 Years of Southern Electric
2024-02-08 14:00 - 16:30 | CHR Bassil Shippam Centre, Tozer Way, St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7LG, United Kingdom
The illustrated talk describes the development of the Southern Electric system from the earliest days when the LSWR electrified the line from Waterloo to Wimbledon via East Putney, their Riverside Electric route, using the dc third rail system in 1915; through the LBSCR overhead electrification almost right up to the modern day.
Included is the electrification of the inner and outer suburban area, and then the first main line electrification to Brighton and Worthing by the Southern Railway in 1933, continuing with the route through Chichester as part of Portsmouth phase 2 in 1938. The presentation continues through the Kent Coast electrification and on to the Bournemouth line electrification of 1967, the Isle of Wight with its successive second hand rolling stock and concludes with more recent developments including Hastings, East Grinstead and Weymouth, whilst not forgetting the HS1 route to the Channel tunnel.

SCT Museum of Scottish Railways: Past, Present & Future
2024-02-10 14:30 - 16:30 | SCT Edinburgh, Scots Guards Club, 2 Clifton Terrace,, Edinburgh, EH12 5DR, United Kingdom
Museum of Scottish Railways: Past, Present & Future
An update on the Museum, its history, where it is now and its future aims.

Colchester in the Age of Steam by Dave Goodyear.
2024-02-12 14:15 - 16:30 | IPS Ipswich, Greenfinch Church Hall, Greenfinch Avenue, Ipswich, IP2 0SQ, United Kingdom

Slovakia's Railways - 12 years of travels
2024-02-12 19:30 - 22:00 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
Robert Pritchard will give a presentation on the railways of Slovakia over the last 12 years, from 2012 to 2023. He will give us a tour of Slovakia by rail including some general interest photos and maybe the odd tram thrown in. The talk will be in three geographical sections – covering the capital Bratislava and the west of the country, the scenic and rural centre of the country including the spectacular High Tatra mountains and some narrow gauge steam lines and the east of the country including the second city Košice and right up to the Ukraine border.
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.

Sheffield Branch AGM + Robert Pritchard "Behind the Scenes"
2024-02-13 14:00 - 16:00 | SFD Sheffield Farm Road Sports & Social Club, Farm Road, Sheffield, S2 2TP, United Kingdom
AGM : The chance to have your say. Also speaker Robert Pritchard from the Sheffield committee presents a new show “Behind the Scenes”, focusing on depots, workshops and other normally unseen locations.

Challenging gravity - steep railways - Felix Schmid - afternoon meeting 14.00
2024-02-13 14:00 - 16:30 | EMD Nottingham, The New Mechanics, 3 North Sherwood Street, Nottingham, NG1 4EZ, United Kingdom

"That Was The Year That Was - 1971" by Geoff Plumb
2024-02-13 19:30 - 22:00 | CBR Fulbourn, Cambridge, The Swifts, Haggis Gap, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5HD, United Kingdom
The results of a very busy year of railway photography in 1971 are the basis of this presentation. These include British Railways, Industrial locations, North Wales narrow gauge, last steam on London Transport, Humber paddle steamers, and the return of mainline steam with 6000 ‘King George V’ on Bulmer’s Cider special. Also featured are scenes from trips to both West and East Germany.

Railways in 1950 and 1951, from the Sutton Coldfield Railway Society's Moseley collection
2024-02-13 19:30 - 22:00 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
A further presentation of photographs from the Sutton Coldfield Railway Society’s Moseley Archive of over 2000 photographs taken by the late Percy Moseley between 1911 and the 1970s. Following previous presentations of images from the 1940s, this will cover the years 1950 and 1951 – just after Nationalisation, when British Railways was establishing its own style – and will be made by Robin Mathams, joint archivist.

Edward Thompson, Wartime CME
2024-02-13 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.
Presenter: Simon Martin
“I have much to do, gentlemen, and little time in which to do it”. These words are attributed to Edward Thompson and have been taken in the past as meaning little time in which to enact change, specifically to the work of his predecessor, Sir Nigel Gresley. How far was this true, was the question posed by Simon A.C. Martin when he started his research on the L.N.E.R.’s second C.M.E. over a decade and a half ago.
This presentation showcases the research Simon has put together, and examines the primary evidence available to the general public, together with an analytical approach to the statistics held at the National Archives at Kew. We look closely at Edward Thompson’s decision making in the full context of the time on the railway from the period from just before Gresley’s death, to the years after and the way in which he handed the baton on to Arthur Peppercorn, after these tumultuous war years.
We then examine each of the designs produced under Thompson, and the work carried out on his predecessor’s locomotives in relation to the aim to bring the best out of them using the resources available at the time. Finally, we will have a group discussion on the documents found, their relative importance, and ask the question “do you feel differently?” at the end, after the discussion.
Simon’s published work on Edward Thompson is available from Strathwood Publishing Limited. https://strathwood.co.uk/products/edward-thompson-wartime-cme-due-in-december-2021-pre-order-today
Doors open: 19:00

25 Years of Derek Cross's Diesels 1959 to 1984
2024-02-14 19:00 - 22:00 | SWL Radyr, Cardiff, Old Church Rooms / Hen Ysgoldy'r Eglwys, Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff, CF15 8DF, United Kingdom
Presented by David Cross

Biscuit Tin Discoveries
2024-02-15 19:00 - 22:00 | CHM Cheltenham, Victory Club, Burlington House, Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2SY, United Kingdom
How many of us have rare or interesting photographs and excerpts stored in a biscuit tin for later reminiscences? Mike Dodd has unearthed some real gems and presents a show of what he has discovered.

Funeral Trains
2024-02-15 19:15 - 21:30 | SRY Woking, Woking United Reform Church, White Rose Lane, Woking, GU22 7HA, United Kingdom

"Looking Back II" - Presenter Bill Jagger
2024-02-15 19:30 - 21:30 | WRD Shipley, Saltaire Methodist Church, Saltaire Road, Shipley, BD18 3HJ, United Kingdom

AGM + Members Images
2024-02-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Cheylesmore Community Centre, Poitiers Road, Coventry 5JX, Poitiers Road, Cheylesmore,, Coventry, CV3 5JX
The purpose of this meeting is to conduct our Branch AGM. Following this two members have already offered the following :- Chris Youett will present images from the David John Morton collection. David was a lifelong member of our branch who took a large number of monochrome pics from the 1930s to the 1970s. He will be followed by our Secretary, Derek Huntriss, who has searched his collection of early images entitled ‘Trainspotting’ You will see. Chris will then finish the program with recently acquired and unseen images taken in the USA.

Swindon Works - Hawkesworth to WR, by Canon Brian Arman, President RCTS
2024-02-19 14:00 - 16:30 | NHN Northampton – Weston Favell, Weston Favell Parish Hall, Booth Lane South, Northampton, NN3 3EP, United Kingdom

Railways Remembered - North East England
2024-02-19 19:30 - 22:30 | Virtual Meeting, Virtual Meeting, United Kingdom
Recently published by Crécy is Railways Remembered: North East England. This full colour volume covers the area from the Scottish Border to the Tees, and inland to the North Pennines. All facets of railway operations are covered: steam, diesel and electric; town and country; freight and passenger; BR and industry. One of the co-authors, Charles Roberts, tells how the project came to fruition, illustrating his talk with a series of images and maps, most of which didn’t quite make the cut for the finished product.

Western Enterprise
2024-02-20 14:00 - 16:30 | TVY Didcot, Didcot Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN, United Kingdom
Significant investment over recent years has radically changed the face of the Great Western, a railway so rich in history that parts have been considered worthy of UNESCO World Heritage status. Setting the scene with a brief look at today’s railway, this talk ranges widely across the route, blending aspects of the speaker’s fifty-year western connections with musings on the railway’s legend through time. Idiosyncratic, controversial, pioneering, often successful but sometimes also accused of building ‘castles in the air’, the three letters GWR continue to evoke great passion

HSD branch - As I see it
2024-02-20 19:30 - 22:00 | HSD Hull, The Highway, Willerby Road, Hull, HU5 5LH, United Kingdom
As I see it

Leatherhead Station & Stationmasters House
2024-02-21 19:30 - 22:00 | SOE Eastleigh, Junction Church (formerly Eastleigh Railway Institute), 2 Romsey Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9FE, United Kingdom
RCTS Archive & Library Officer Andy Davies illustrates the importance of this facility
