Northampton [NHN]
Welcome to the Northampton Branch of the Society.
Apart from the summer months, June to August, we hold regular meetings, mostly in the afternoon from 2pm to around 4:30pm. They are generally held on the third Monday in the month, but can vary owing to prior bookings or Bank holidays. We endeavour to hold one meeting in the evening in May, when it is still light for returning home afterwards, and arrange visits on an ad hoc basis.
Meetings are held at Weston Favell Village Hall, Booth Lane South, Northampton, NN3 3EP. There is plenty of parking and it is on a bus route into the town centre. We have held the occasional joint meeting with the Milton Keynes Branch at Roade Village Hall, a railway village close to Roade Cutting.
In order to cover hall hire costs and refreshments, our meetings charge is £3 for Members and £3.50 for non Members, who are always welcome.
We release our annual programme of talks for the forthcoming year at our AGM in December of the preceding year.
What's on
Venues
Click the venue name to see more
Contacts
tel: 01604 890275
Chairman
tel: 01604 890275
Meeting reports
21st October 2024: End of Steam Part 1 1966-68, a photographic presentation by Michael Smyth
Michael grew up in West Yorkshire and the end of steam coincided with his departure for university in the autumn of 1967, but in those years he captured film of…
Read More25th September 2024: Signals and Routes, a talk by Bill Davies
This was a joint meeting with the Milton Keynes Branch of RCTS. Although Bill didn’t use this title on the day, this was another opportunity to hear of Bill’s life…
Read More13th May 2024: Cambridge Area Railways Part 3 by David Scudamore
This was our only evening meeting this year, enabled by the lighter evenings in May. Branch Member David accompanied by his wife Rob, completed his three part tour of the…
Read More22nd April 2024: Nothing Stays the Same by Mike Corbett
Mike was a graduate entrant to a career in Engineering with BR. Having grown up close to the railway at Northwich and witnessing 8Fs and 04s on freights heading to…
Read More19th February 2024: Swindon Works – The Collett Years, by RCTS President Canon Bryan Arman
Although billed as The Hawksworth era, following on from last year’s talk on the Collett Years, Canon Bryan retold the story of Collett’s time at Swindon as CME. The tale…
Read More22nd January 2024: Harringworth Viaduct, a talk by John Hillier
John began by comparing this viaduct with that of the nationally better known Ribblehead viaduct. They were both built for the Midland Railway in its drive north and south in…
Read More20th November 2023: Sheet Stores Junction, a talk by Ian Mitchell
This name will be familiar to those with an interest in railways, especially MR or LMS, as it forms part of the triangle at Trent Junction where the lines to…
Read MoreReports of meetings from October 2022 to October 2023
2022 20th September 2022: A joint meeting with the MK Branch was held in Roade Village Hall. Tony Ellershaw from the Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Project gave an insight into the…
Read MoreHill Railways of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Wallace 22nd November 2021
This presentation consisted of a review of railway journeys from the foothills of the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas to the Western Ghats and the Blue Hills of the South…
Read More24th January 2022 North Staffordshire Railway Part 3
Our first meeting of the year on the 24th January was necessarily held on Zoom, when Member Brian Sullivan presented Part 3 in the series on the North Staffordshire Railway.…
Read MoreA Ninth Colour-Rail Journey
Presenter: Paul Chancellor The Northampton Branch first live meeting was held at Weston Favell village hall with an audience of about twenty members suitably distanced from each other. Paul Chancellor…
Read More19th April 2021: The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway by Brian Sullivan
A Northampton Branch ZOOM meeting due to Covid 19 restrictions. The Norfolk and Suffolk Railway was unusual as it had two lines which were not connected to each other. There…
Read More15th March 2021 · ‘The Railways of Northamptonshire Part 6’
Presenter: Robin Cullop This part covers two branch lines – Stamford to Wansford and the small part of the M&GN near Peterborough to Thorney. Thorney is just in Northamptonshire (Soke…
Read More2nd March 2020 · ‘Railways of Zurich’
Presenter: Ken Follett On Monday 2nd March Ken Follett gave a presentation entitled “The Railways of Zurich” to a smaller than usual Northampton audience at the Wellingborough Museum. Ken has…
Read More24th February 2020 · ‘The Railways of Cambridge – Part 1’
Presenters: David and Roberta Scudamore David and Roberta Scudamore gave almost thirty Members and friends an excellent talk on “The Railways of Cambridge, Part 1”, at Weston Favell on 21st…
Read More10th February 2020 · ‘The Bank Job’
Presenter: Lester Hillman Of the 25 or so persons present at Weston Favell on 10th February 2020 to listen to Lester Hillman give a presentation headed “The Bank Job”, there…
Read More27th January 2020 · ‘Funicular Railways’
Presenter: David Hanger For our first evening Meeting of 2020, David Hanger came from Wellingborough to give a talk and slide show on Funicular Railways. Of these there were plenty…
Read More13th January 2020 · ‘Steam In and Around York – Part 2’
Presenter: Chris Nettleton A fair sized attendance was present at Wellingborough Castle Museum on Monday, 13th January. The subject was Chris Nettleton’s presentation of ”Steam in and around York, Part…
Read More16th December 2019 · Branch AGM and Christmas Evening
There was an attendance of 20 or so Members for this Meeting, which doubled as an AGM and a Members Evening. The AGM , usually a fairly short part of…
Read More2nd December 2019 · ‘Freight Then and Now’
Presenter: Brian Ringer The joint Branch meeting on the 2nd December was conducted by one of MK’s own members Brian Ringer, who was a former railwayman n the freight sector.…
Read More4th November 2019 · ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
Presenter: Ken Grainger Thirty Members and friends were present at Weston Favell on Monday afternoon. Many of us had pondered the content, and we were delighted to discover that Ken…
Read More21st October 2019 · ‘South African Steam in the 1980s’
Presenter: Roger Whitehead On Monday 21st. October a rather limited audience were fascinated by Roger Whitehead’s presentation entitled “South African Steam in the 1980s. The programme consisted of a large…
Read More7th October 2019 · ‘The Peter Bland Collection – Parts 4 and 5’
Presenter: Bryan Cross There was an attendance of approximately 35 Members and friends at Weston Favell on Monday afternoon, 7th October. Bryan Cross showed Parts 4 and 5 of his…
Read More23rd September 2019 · The Railways of Northamptonshire Part 5 – Developments around Northampton
Presenters: Robin Cullop and Barry Taylor A predictably large attendance gathered at Weston Favell on 23rd September for the first indoor meeting of the 2019/20 Season. Robin Cullop introduced, and…
Read More29th June 2019 · Visit to The Welshpool and Llanfair Railway
A dozen or so members gathered at Northampton station for an early start for the journey to Welshpool on Saturday, 29th June (others would join the main party later by…
Read More13th May 2019 · ‘Outdoor Meeting – Roade Cutting’
Fifteen or so hardy souls gathered after teatime at the fabled Bridge 209 straddling the southern end of Roade Cutting. From the time the first Members arrived at 6.15pm until…
Read More29th April 2019 · Member’s Evening
Our last Branch Indoor meeting of the 2018/19 session was a Members Evening. It was well supported, but a few of the non-attendees would have enjoyed the fare of offer…
Read More16th April 2019 · “The Ashes” Quiz versus LCGB Bedford
A most enjoyable evening at Bedford with plenty of good natured banter and a very positive result for the Northampton RCTS team who retained ‘The Ashes’. The results were Northampton…
Read More8th April 2019 · ‘Steam in and around York’
Presenter: Chris Nettleton Monday, 8th April brought a return visit from Chris Nettleton, who travelled from Eaglescliffe to speak, with film and slide accompaniment about “Steam in and around York”.…
Read More25th March 2019 · ‘North Staffordshire Railway Part 2’
Presenters: Tommy Tomalin & Brian Sullivan Despite an enforced change to our Programme, occasioned by a loss of digital material, our ever reliable super-subs, Tommy Tomalin and Brian Sullivan, stepped…
Read More18th March 2019 · ‘1960’s Steam in the East Midlands Area’
Presenter: Michael Clemens A joint afternoon Meeting with the Milton Keynes branch was held at Roade on 18th March 2019. Over 50 Members and friends attended to see a selection…
Read More11th March 2019 · ‘Ramblings around the UK 1962/3’
Presenter: Brian Holland Approximately forty Members and friends were at Weston Favell on 11th March to see a presentation by Brian Holland, assisted by Michael Chapman, entitled “Ramblings around the…
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