Thames Valley [TVY]
Welcome to the Thames Valley Branch pages of the RCTS website.
We hold physical (meeting room or lineside observation) meetings during a typical year. Physical meetings are held at Didcot Civic Hall and observation meetings at various stations around our area.
RCTS members, non-members, visitors, and guests are all welcome to attend all our meetings. A door donation, at Didcot Civic Hall meetings of £5.00 is requested (free refreshments are usually available during the interval at our Didcot Civic Hall meetings).
The Civic Hall is a 15 minutes’ walk from Didcot Parkway Railway Station. Alternatively Didcot Civic Hall has a large car park which is free for hall users.
What's on
Venues
Click the venue name to see more
Contacts
Chairman
email: tv-secretary@rcts.org.uk
Web Coordinator
Meeting reports
North Staffordshire Railway (Part 3)
Brian Sullivan returned to give us a further selection of the historic photos taken by Tommy Tomalin. This talk covered the North Staffs lines that ran from Stoke-on-Trent to Stone,…
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The LMS Patriot Project
We welcomed Colin Hale who is the Current Chair of the LMS-Patriot Project for our April Meeting. The presentation commenced with a brief history of the Patriot locomotives. The first…
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Over the Mendips
This talk celebrated 150 years of the completion of the extension to Bath of the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The presenter was Mike Beale who has been a member of…
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Western Enterprise
For the second afternoon meeting of the season our speaker was Colin Brading who had previously given us a number of presentations. On this occasion he used the names of…
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Rail Reminiscences
Our speaker for our first meeting of the year was Branch Chairman Phil Darlaston whose photographic presentation ‘Rail Reminiscences’ covered 50 years of his photography from 1973 to 2023 encompassing…
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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Railways
This months presentation by one of own members Stuart Hicks who took part in a group visit to see as much as possible of the railways which now operate…
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All aboard The Pines Express Part 2
We welcomed back Chris Youett for the second part of a colour slide presentation following the route of the Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway to Bournemouth It…
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WW1 and WW2 Train Ferries
Our speaker for our October Meeting was one of our group members Gordon Adams. The first half of the presentation covered World War 1. The decision to use Train Ferries…
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Swindon Works – The Final Years
Our speaker for the start of the 2023/2024 Season was Canon Brian Armon and the subject was “Swindon – The Final Years”. The standardisation of BR Diesel locomotives away from…
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Visit to David Buck’s Private Railway Fifield
The RCTS and BLS held a very successful visit to David Buck’s Railways at Fifield during the afternoon of Monday 26th June. Proceedings started officially at14.00 with David making a…
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North Staffordshire Railway Part Two
The May meeting was the second of a series of presentations by Brian Sullivan. The major part consisted of a journey from Uttoxeter to Crewe via Stoke along the North…
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Slide Presentations from the 1960’s to Privatisation
Our booked speaker was unable to attend for the April Meeting, his travel arrangements being scuppered by the closure of the main Oxford-Banbury line due to the condition of Nuneham…
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The Current GWR Scene
For our March Meeting, we welcomed Mark Hopwood CBE Managing Director GWR and his topic was the The current GWR Scene. The evening was in three parts, a short video,…
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Confessions of a Narrow Minded Enthusiast
For our February Meeting we welcomed back Colin Brading with a presentation entitled “Confessions of a Narrow Minded Enthusiast”. The first part covered the development of 15″ Gauge Railways. The…
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Cholsey and Wallingford Railway
For this meeting we welcomed Tony Stead from the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. The presentation was in two parts the first being a detailed history of the branch line with…
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The Gulf Oil Branch Line
The first part of the December Meeting was the AGM and this was followed by a presentation and video on the building of the Gulf Oil Branch Line by Dick…
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All Change Britain’s Railways 1967-1979
Starting in late 1967 with black and white images taken in the Northwest which was then the last remaining location for Main line steam (though with its limited variety of…
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Czech Railways
At our October meeting we welcomed Robert Pritchard, Fixtures Secretary of the Sheffield Branch and Editor of Today’s Railways UK, to talk on one of his specialist subjects, the railways…
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Diesel Hydraulics around the Western Region.
This took place on the 20th September the evening of the day after the State funeral of our late Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to commencement attendees shared a moment of…
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The North Staffordshire Railway (Part 1)
For our last indoor meeting of a necessarily short season, we welcomed Brian Sullivan, who presented the first part of his talk on the North Staffordshire Railway. The presentation was…
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An Indian Railway Tour
For our April meeting, we welcomed back Colin Brading, who took us on a railway tour of India. India is a large country with 1.4 billion people and a railway…
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Eastleigh from Railway Junction to Railway Centre
After an enforced gap of two years, caused by obvious circumstances beyond our control. we were back at Didcot to welcome local member Gordon Adams, He had done a series…
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A Little History of the Cadeby Light Railway
The Thames Valley branch welcomed back Dave Penney (whose day job is Passenger Director – Northwest and Central) with a presentation was “A little history of the Cadeby Light Railway.” …
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Branch Quiz Evening
The Thames Valley branch January meeting, which should have been our first face to face meeting since February 2020, back at the Didcot Civic Hall, but Covid and in…
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Transport for Wales – Cardiff Valley Metro
Before the normal meeting started the branch Annual General meeting was held. The result of which the branch committee was unanimously voted back into office. The minutes of the AGM…
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1966 Farewell to Steam – Journeys around England, Wales and Scotland
The branch welcomed back Mike Beale Mike went through the calendar of the year 1966 January, the Somerset and Dorset line which, ended on the 1st January, although an emergency…
Read MoreClass 50’s in Cornwall
Presenter: David Keogh David had been brought up in Cornwall and was the founder of the Fifty Fund, who now own six class 50s mostly based at the Severn Valley…
Read MoreAustralia and other trips in 2020
Presenter: Stuart Hicks For our September Zoom meeting our Branch Member and Secretary Stuart Hicks took us on a tour of his overseas trips during 2020. He and his family had…
Read More15th June 2021 · Peter Gray photographic collection.
Presenter: Laurence Waters. Laurence was a professional photographer and is now the Honorary photographic archivist for the Great Western Trust at the Didcot Railway Centre. He has also written several…
Read More18th May 2021· The Great Northern Railway and Kings Cross Station.
Presenter: Raymond Schofield Our speaker this evening introduced his talk as one he had prepared for the 175th anniversary of the railway reaching London from York and the inaugural run…
Read More20th April 2021· Tramways of the Czech Republic & Slovakia Part 1 – Prague, Plzen and Most to Lituinov.
Presenter: Robert Pritchard – Fixtures Secretary, Sheffield Branch. The Thames Valley branch welcomed as its speaker for this month Robert Pritchard, a name known to many as Editor, Todays Railways…
Read More16th March 2021 · The North London Railway
Presenter: Murray Lewis – RCTS Member, Thames Valley Branch The branch welcomed “one of its own” to present via Zoom a talk on “The North London Railway”. Murray by way…
Read More16th February 2021 · Current GWR Train Operations and Developments
Presenter: Mark Hopwood CBE – Managing Director GWR The Thames Valley Branch welcomed Mark Hopwood for this evenings talk. In addition to Mark there were some 81 other persons on…
Read More19th January 2021 · Three Feet on Three Legs
Presenter: Colin Brading The Speaker for the January meeting on the subject of Railways of the Isle of Man, which had an audience of 54 people, was Colin Brading. Colin…
Read More15th December 2020 · Branch AGM and Festive Quiz
The first part of the December meeting was another new experience, the branch AGM using the Zoom system. Due process was carried out with the current committee being re-elected en…
Read More17th November 2020 · Double Header
A Winter Weekend in Crewe Presenter: Andy Vernon Presenting first was branch member Andy Vernon. Travelling by car from the Thames Valley on a Thursday afternoon in late January 2020,…
Read More13th & 20th October 2020 · A Holiday of a Lifetime – Swindon to Saigon
Presenter: John Sreeves The branch welcomed back John Sreeves, albeit this time via ZOOM for two evenings in October to give a talk, postponed from March earlier this year. One…
Read More22nd September 2020 · Southampton Railways Part 3
Presenter: Gordon Adams Due to Covid-19 our first meeting of the new season was not in the Didcot Civic Hall, but virtually by ZOOM, probably the first of four monthly…
Read More4th March 2020 · Quiz versus Reading Transport Group
The RCTS team of Phil Darlaston, John Temple,N igel Farebrother, Stuart Hicks and Murray Lewis girded their loins to do battle in the annual quiz match away to our friends…
Read More17th February 2020 · The End of Steam around Bristol
Presenter: Mike Beale For our February meeting our venue was converted into a Tardis as Mike Beale transported us back for a 1950’s and 1960’s look at steam in and…
Read More20th January 2020 · The Metropolitan Railway
Presenter: Colin Brading For the first meeting of 2020, we welcomed back Colin Brading, with his talk on the Metropolitan Railway. As is widely known, this was the world’s first…
Read More16th December 2019 · ‘Branch AGM followed by member’s slides and images’
The December meeting was the usual one consisting of the branch AGM and member’s presentations with seasonal refreshments. The formal part consisted of a review of the year, which turned…
Read More18th November 2019 · ’24 years of Great Eastern Electrification’
Presenter: John Day The presentation covered the period just before electrification to the present day to cover the last 25 years of Great Eastern electrification. Although parts of the Great…
Read More21st October 2019 · ‘All Aboard the Pines Express – Part 1’
Presenter: Chris Youett The October meeting had as its speaker a long-term friend in Chris Youett who took us on the first part of a ride on the Pines Express.…
Read More16th September 2019 · 4 Branch Members – 4 Different Photo Presentations
The first person to present was Murray Lewis, who showed the railways of Ukraine. He went at a time before the troubles of recent years, so was able to photograph…
Read More30th August 2019 · Outdoor Meeting Eastleigh Station
Friday 30th August saw four members from Thames Valley branch enjoy an afternoon of observation at our third new venue of the summer after our visits to Westbury and Clapham…
Read More20th August 2019 · Outdoor Meeting Didcot Station
This year’s Didcot observation evening at was notable for two missing icons. The HST’s, for so long a staple of Didcot workings finished earlier this year, being replaced by the…
Read More4th July 2019 · Clapham Junction Outdoor Meeting
Thursday 4th July saw five members from Thames Valley branch enjoying a sunny warm afternoon observing plenty of trains at Clapham Junction station. This was a new venue for the…
Read More20th June 2019 · Reading Station Outdoor Meeting
On a cloudy, dull evening a group of six branch members met at the London end of platform 8 on Reading station for the traditional June outdoor meet to coincide…
Read More6th June 2019 · Westbury Station Outdoor Meeting
A new venue and time for the Thames Valley branch observation of the year. The location was Westbury station commencing in the afternoon, a first for many years, if not…
Read More20th May 2019 · ”Southampton Railways Part 2′
Presenter: Gordon Adams For the last indoor meeting of the season, Gordon Adams took us on a trip to the coast for Part 2 of his talk on the railways…
Read More15th April 2019 · Industrial Railways – Summer 1969
Presenter: John Hubbard Due to the unavailability of the booked speaker, John Hubbard, (the joint branch president) stepped in with a talk on Industrial Steam in 1969. In 1969 the…
Read More18th March 2019 · ‘Heritage Railway Infrastructure – Part 2’
Presenter: John Sreeves John Sreeves from Halcrow presented the second part of his “Railway Heritage Infrastructure” talk. John’s area of expertise is bridges, so these were what he concentrated on.…
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