Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City [HTC]
Welcome to the Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch.
We meet twice per month, once at Hitchin and once at Welwyn Garden City.
The Hitchin meetings are held, in the evening, at Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin SG5 2EE on the second Tuesday of each month except August. Doors open at 19:00 with the featured presentation from 19:30 to 22:00 (approx).
The Welwyn Garden City meetings are held, in the afternoon, at the Methodist Church, Ludwick Way/Cole Green Lane junction, Welwyn Garden City AL7 3PN on the last (third in December) Tuesday of each month (except August). Doors open at 13:30 with the featured presentation from 14:00 to 16:30 (approx).
Our meetings generally take the form of presentations on varied aspects of railway history and operational practice, with an interval for refreshments and a raffle draw. Both venues are disabled friendly.
The meetings also offer the opportunity to browse and buy from a wonderful selection of hundreds of pre-owned railway books at bargain prices.
All are welcome to join us.
All meetings are now "live" events.
What's on
Venues
Click the venue name to see more
Contacts
Chairman
Treasurer
tel: 01582 642680
Newsletter Editor & Web Coordinator
John Dossett
tel: 01438 714325
email: hitchinnewsletter@rcts.org.uk
Newsletters
2022
2021
2020
2019
Meeting reports
A Modern Image? – Not Quite
Presenter – Peter Robins This was a superb presentation covering virtually the whole of the British Isles, all but a couple of photographs were Peter’s own work, with the aid…
Read MoreThat was the year that was …. 1965
A presentation by Geoff Plumb We are very grateful to Geoff Plumb for standing in at the last moment with this presentation as our booked speaker had tested positive…
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The Narrow Gauge Steam Railways of Nepal and Pakistan
The Narrow-Gauge Steam Railways of Nepal and Pakistan A Presentation by Geoff Warren At our first live meeting back at Welwyn Garden City since December 2020 we were…
Read MoreBranch AGM and Members’ Evening
Following on from our Branch AGM, for which we had a rather disappointing turn out, John Dossett gave us a presentation of his very recent visit to the Mid Suffolk…
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The Varying Fortunes of the Hatfield to St Albans Railway
A local subject, in the form of “The Varying Fortunes of the Hatfield to St. Albans Railway” with Alistair Cameron, was our subject for this afternoon’s meeting via Zoom. Unfortunately,…
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“Prince of Wales” – A Brand-New Steam Locomotive for the 21st Century
Continuing with our Zoom meetings currently, this evening we welcomed Rob Morland of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust to talk to us about the current new build of a P2…
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North from Euston, from the RCTS Photographic Archive
A presentation by David Jackman Instead of the joys of the church hall, the Welwyn Garden City meeting this month was by Zoom. Up to 39 people joined for…
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The Work of the Railway Heritage Trust
Presenter: Andrew Savage MBE Following our disappointment of having to cancel our last meeting of 2021 due to the covid variant, our first meeting in the New Year was presented…
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History of Leatherhead Station – Home to the RCTS Library & Archive Centre
This evening we welcomed Andy Davies the Society Archivist to our Hitchin meeting ably assisted by Irene Rabbitts. The evening was split into two parts, Andy first talked to us…
Read MoreA Northern View
A Northern View Presenter: Steve Batty This month’s meeting in Welwyn Garden City was “A Northern View” presented by RCTS member Stephen Batty which attracted our largest audience since…
Read MoreOver the Hills and Far Away
Presenter: Chris Jones We were very grateful to Chris Jones tonight’s speaker for helping us out with a last minute change of speaker. Chris spoke about “Over the Hills and…
Read MoreThe East Coast Mainline – Kings Cross to York
Presenter: Stephen Gay This afternoon in Welwyn Garden City we welcomed back Stephen Gay with the first part of two, of his new show “The East Coast Mainline – Kings…
Read MoreThat Was The Year That Was – 1969
Presenter: Geoff Plumb This evening we were entertained by Geoff Plumb with another in his series of talks “That Was the Year That Was” this time it was the year…
Read MoreEdge Hill Marshalling Yard & its complex of Railways
Presenter: George Howe Branch member George Howe had put together over several years this afternoon’s presentation on “Edge Hill Marshalling Yard & its complex of Railways”. Starting with some historic…
Read More14th September 2021 · “45596 Bahamas, A Preservation Pioneer”
Presenter: John Hillier This evening’s meeting in Hitchin was all about “45596 Bahamas, A Preservation Pioneer” presented by photographer & author John Hillier. John has been with the Bahamas Preservation…
Read More31st August 2021 · “Railways of East Anglia – A Period of Transition”
Presenter: John Day What a fabulous start back to live meetings following 18 months without a getting together. Our thanks to John Day for travelling from his beloved Ipswich to…
Read More10th August 2021 · “Roaming Around London with my Camera”
Presenter: Geoff Brockett To kick off our first live meeting since March 2020 Geoff Brockett visited us with his presentation “Roaming around London with my Camera”. Just as a warning…
Read More13th July 2021 · “Scottish Steam in the 50’s and 60’s”
Presenter: David Kelso With an encouraging 89 viewers David started by explaining to us how his railway interests began, as his grandfather was worked for almost his entire career for…
Read More8th June 2021 · Peter Bland Collection
Presenter: Brian Cross At our virtual presentation this evening Bryan Cross treated us to a further look into the Peter Bland Collection of photographs. The evening kicked off with the…
Read More11th May 2021 · “Railways in the Chiltern Counties & the Watford Miniature Railway”
Presenter: Dr. Rudi Newman This evening’s Zoom meeting featured a double bill from Dr. Rudi Newman, firstly we heard all about the social and economic impact on the Chiltern counties…
Read More13th April 2021 · “Railway Photographers”
Presenter: John Hillier John is a member of the Railway Camera Club and this talk was all about the work of some its members. Most of the photographs shown in…
Read More9th February 2021 · “The Honeybourne Line”
Presenter: Bernie Holland Continuing with the success of our Zoom meetings, tonight 60 members tuned in to watch Bernie Holland talk to us about “The Honeybourne Line” part of which…
Read More12th January 2021 · “Railways before the War – That is the Great War -Part 2”
Presenter: Jeremy Harrison Our first meeting in the New Year was “Railways before the War – That is the Great War (part 2” presented by Jeremy Harrison with 52 participants.…
Read More10th November 2020 · “Railways Before the War – That is the Great War -Part 1”
Presenter: Jeremy Harrison This was our first attempt at a Virtual meeting our presenter this evening was Jeremy Harrison (Croydon & SL Branch to whom we are very grateful for…
Read More10th March 2020 · ‘Branch AGM and Member Presentations’
This meeting was all about our Branch, starting with our 18th AGM followed members presentations, this time three members displayed and described their handiwork. Firstly, John Dossett who enjoys railway…
Read More25th February 2020 · ‘The Rainhill Trials’
Presenter: Dr. Rudi Newman Today we were entertained by a first-rate speaker, Dr. Rudi Newman, who explained in great detail all the trials and tribulations of The Rainhill Trials back…
Read More11th February 2020 · ‘More Thrills and Spills’
Presenter: Chris Blackman I believe we all learnt a great deal about railway operations when Chris Blackman paid us a return visit with his talk “More Thrills & Spills.” Chris…
Read More28th January 2020 · ‘Next Train Gone’
Presenter: Adrian White Adrian White, our speaker this afternoon, started his photographic tour with pictures taken at our several of local locations on the ECML, including the building of the…
Read More14th January 2020 · ‘A Potpourri of European Railways’
Presenter: Rob Freeman To start our new year off we welcomed Rob Freeman (Watford with his presentation “A Potpourri of European Railways”. We started with looking at some of the…
Read More17th December 2019 · ‘A 92 Squadron and Nene Valley Update’
Presenter: Steve Lacey Our speaker today was someone well known to most railway enthusiasts within our area, he is also our Branch Chairman and one of the most enthusiastic people…
Read More26th November 2019 · ‘The Railways of Western France’
Presenter: Mike Bunn We were delighted to welcome back to Mike Bunn with his annual French railway’s presentation to us, this time talking about “The Railways of Western France”. Mike…
Read More29th October 2019 · ‘Along the Tracks from Home and Away’
Presenter: Steve Batty Today we welcomed from Selby, Steve Batty, a well-known Society member and photographer, Steve started our meeting today most topically with a pair of Colas Class 60’s…
Read More8th October 2019 · ‘London to Velke Kapusany, a 21st. Century Odyssey’
David Jackman A much travelled David Jackman was our speaker with his presentation.“London to Velke Kapusany, a 21st Century Odyssey”. A fascinating journey through Europe all the way to the…
Read More24th September 2019 · ‘Through Kirton Tunnel – Part 1’
Stephen Gay This afternoon we welcomed back Stephen Gay, with his upgraded presentation “Through Kirton Tunnel” (Part 1. Kirton Tunnel is approximately the half way point on the line running…
Read More10th September 2019 · “Modern Transport in the 1960’s”
David Percival Local photographer and historian David Percival got our Autumn meetings for 2019 off to a great start by attracting our good audience, his subject being “Modern Traction In…
Read More30th July 2019 · ‘Swindon Works 1880-1922, The Golden Years’
Presenter: Brian Arman, RCTS President To complete our summer programme of meetings we welcomed Society President Brian Arman who gave us the second part of his presentation on “Swindon Works…
Read More9th July 2019 · ‘By the Midland to Cambridge’
Presenter: Robin Cullop This evening’s presentation in Hitchin turned out to be surprising in several ways. Firstly it attracted one of the largest audiences we have had for an evening…
Read More11th June 2019 · ‘Next Train Gone’
Presenter: Adrian White Our speaker this evening was local photographer & enthusiast Adrian White, with his presentation “Next Train Gone.” Following an amusing introduction about himself, ourselves and the programme…
Read More28th May 2019 · ‘The Somerset & Dorset Line’
Presenter: John Day On a slightly chilly afternoon at Welwyn Garden City, who better to entertain a full house than John Day with what turned out to be a fabulous…
Read More14th May 2019 · ‘Mail Rail’
Presenter: Chris Taft Chris Taft (Head of Collections from the London Post Office Museum gave us a very well-structured and clear presentation on “Mail Rail”, The History of the Post…
Read More30th April 2019 · ‘Double Vision’
Presenter: Robert Warburton The Branch is extremely grateful to Robert Warburton (P’boro for giving us such a superb afternoon’s presentation at such short notice, as our booked speakers were unable…
Read More9th April 2019 · ‘On and Off the Footplate; Aspects of a 42 years career’
Presenter: Bill Davies On his return visit on 9th April, Bill Davies provided yet another well illustrated and entertaining evening. His subject, On and Off the Footplate; Aspects of a…
Read More26th March 2019 · ‘1000 Eggs on a Bicycle’
Presenter: Colin Boocock A full house at our meeting this afternoon to enjoy today’s speaker the renowned photographer and author Colin Boocock. The presentation followed a logical order from 1943…
Read More12th March 2019 · ‘Branch Annual General Meeting and Members’ Presentation Evening’
This month we held our AGM, following the co-option to the committee of one member. the committee were re-elected for another year. The remainder of the meeting was taken up…
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