BTL Meeting Report
5 December 2025, ‘The Swansea Vale Railway, by Professor John Miles.
Charles Henry Smith and Sterling Benson proposed a railway starting at Swansea travelling northwards. The initial surveys were carried out in 1836 and 1840, the bill passed through parliament in…
Read More7 November 2025, ‘That Was The Year That Was 1966, by Geoff Plumb.
We welcomed Geoff for his fifth presentation. He started around the Sheffield area with several photos of LMS Royal Scots and Black 5s between Sheffield and Nottingham. His presentation included…
Read More3 October 2025, ‘The Adavnced Passenger Train’, by Kit Spackman.
In the early 1970’s Kit was a key engineer in the development of a high-speed train (APT-P) to run on the ECML and the WCML. To be able to traverse…
Read More5 September 2025, ‘South Wales Railways in the 21st Centuary by Stuart Warr.
On 5th September Stuart Warr presented, ‘South Wales Railways in the 21st Century’. Stuart is a prolific and a very accomplished photographer and he was able to show us only…
Read More2 May 2025, ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ by John Baxter.
John introduced himself with an old picture of the LNER station at Huntingdon where he first became interested in trains. The first locomotive that he remembered was Gresley A4 ‘Mallard’…
Read More4 April 2025 ‘Gloucester to Gloucester’ by Brian Arman
Gloucester to Gloucester via Bristol, The S & D Railway, The Southern and London presented by Brian Armen The speaker booked for our April meeting was unable to travel,…
Read More7 March 2025, ‘LOCOMOTION and Stockton & Darlington Railway 200’ by SLS President Dr Michael Bailey MBE.
On the 27th of September 1825 the first steam hauled railway opened. The purpose of the line was to transport coal from the West Durham coal mines to be shipped…
Read More7 February 2025, ‘To Scotland for Steam’, by Branch Chairman Brian Arman.
After a short AGM Brian Arman presented part two of his talk ‘To Scotland for Steam’. The presentation started with the Highland Line in Eastern Scotland at Keith and following…
Read More3 January 2025 ‘Steam in Cornwall’ by SLS Librarian Gerry Nichols
Gerry started his presentation by showing several photos of Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge seen through the ages, the earliest showing a flotilla of Naval ships just beyond the bridge and…
Read More20 December Christmas Buffet and Members Evening
There were three digital presentations prior to the buffet, and three slide presentations afterwards, finishing at about 10pm. The digital presentations were: Dale Robertson – Heritage Railway Quiz. A ‘Where…
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