About the Society
The RCTS is Britain’s leading organisation for people interested in all aspects of railways past, present and future and is highly regarded by both professional railway people and enthusiasts, a position it has held since its formation in 1928.
The RCTS is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, number 1169995. Our VAT number is GB197343335. More about Governance of the Society.
Click the image to view a sample edition from January 2024
Guests
Try out the Society as a guest. Most of the meetings and events are open to visitors.
Donations appreciated.
The Railway Observer
All members receive the Society's magazine online, and a print edition (usually 72 pages) is posted to those choosing a "Printed" membership category.
The magazine covers the current railway scene, including extensive coverage of significant and interesting movements, plus an infrastructure and events update. Urban, Irish and International news is included, together with the latest news from Heritage lines.
Society activities, branch meetings, outdoor visits and rail tours are well represented, as are reviews of the latest publications.
A PDF download
Membership rates for new joiners
Printed RO Membership includes posting of the print edition of The Railway Observer
| Online RO | £10.00 |
| Printed RO UK | £28.00 |
| Printed RO Europe | £52.00 |
| Printed RO Rest of World | £71.00 |
New joiners are benefiting from a "Welcome" discount of £10. Sign up with Direct Debit and save a further £1.
Volunteering
The Society is run entirely by volunteers, at branch level and nationally. If you have some spare time, and maybe some specialist skills, there are many ways you can help
- Publishing
- Image preparation
- Archiving
- Speaking
- Managing events
- Software development
- Administration
- Research
- Authorship
- Librarianship
News
Czech Holiday Plzeň June 2024
For our third trip to Czechia, following on from Praha in 2022 and Ostrava in 2023, our base for this year was Plzeň. Plzeň is a city in Western Bohemia…
Three new books for 2024
We are delighted to announce three new pictorial volumes for 2024. There are also some new bundles available that include the new volumes. More information about each is available by…
Members’ Weekend 2024 – Portsmouth
Friday 27th – Sunday 29th September The Great Waterfront City – Portsmouth has something to offer everybody The home of the Royal Navy, our hotel is literally a stone’s throw…
Announcement 20th April 2024
The following announcement was made at the Society’s AGM: Britain’s leading railway society offers a repository for important historical legacies for other railway enthusiast organisations For several months, the Railway…
Czech Holiday – Ostrava – June 2023
Eastern Czechia – Click to expand Following the success of the week spent in Praha last year and looking at Czech railways it was decided that this year we would…
Railway Observer image submission
Updated guidance has been released on how to submit your photographs for possible inclusion in The Railway Observer. The guidelines are available as a PDF to download. Image guidelines
Upcoming events
Virtual events coming up...
There is programme of National events held online, typically monthly. Some branches run them too. Members from any branch may attend and guests are very welcome. For National Meetings, there is no charge for members but donations would be appreciated to help defray the costs. Some branches make a charge because venue hire costs still have to be covered.
A ticket is required. Open the event to find the registration link, and the donations link.
For 2023-24 we have a 500-seat Zoom licence.
On today
Events for 04-Apr-2026
Please always use https://rcts.org.uk. Users of https://www.rcts.org.uk cannot advance the month.
A fix will be applied at a quiet time for the website.
Society full calendar
Visit the branch pages to discover upcoming events in your specific area.
Events
Calendar of Events
|
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
Sunday
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0 events,
|
1 event,
-
A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Dave Goodyear. The Harwich branch has a rich and varied history, with its combination of named boat trains to Parkeston Quay… |
2 events,
-
Rob Freeman presents ‘The Southern End of the WCML, 1930s to Present Day’, featuring photos from the H C Casserley Collection, plus a selection of his own photos. |
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
|
|
0 events,
|
1 event,
-
Branch AGM, followed by: JASON CROSS - 'Railways from Both Sides of the Fence' - A slide show by a GBRf employee which includes an overview of joining the company,… |
2 events,
-
Thia month's talk come from Ray Viney, who will be looking back back at the railway history of a town that was once the hub of three routes with two… |
1 event,
Featured
-
Featured
Join Harry Nethercoat from our Watford branch as he looks back on his journeys in 2025, stretching from Cornwall, up to Scotland - with stops in-between including; London, Cardiff, and…
£3.50 – £5
|
1 event,
-
Steam locomotive driver & fireman Chris Smith, presents a slide show from his collection featuring the high quality railway photographs of Bill Potter. The show focuses on Steam and Diesel… |
1 event,
-
Steve Montgomery of Exerail fame will be giving a presentation of colour and black/white images captured by Dave Nicholas when living in the Bristol Area. Mainly steam and with extensive…
£2
|
0 events,
|
|
0 events,
|
7 events,
-
Phil Lindsey takes us on a journey along the Midland Main Line from St Pancras to Ratcliffe on Soar, with the main focus being the Northamptonshire and Leicestershire sections. The… |
1 event, |
4 events,
-
Time to review the past year and select the committee to take us into the next season. We'll try and keep the business bit brief so we can spend more…
-
A Mediterranean Odyssey Narrow Gauge steam in 9 countries from the Near East to Iberia. Featuring Lebanon, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. By Nicholas Lera –… |
0 events,
|
1 event,
Featured
The Annual RCTS Members Day and AGM will take place at The Grand Station, Sun Street, Wolverhampton, WV10 0BF on Saturday 18th April 2026, commencing at 1100hrs (doors open from… |
0 events,
|
3 events,
-
Well known local historian, Peter Lee, will present the first half of this meeting with 'The History of Nuneaton Loco Depot'. For Part 2 RCTS member, Phil Dooley, will entertain…
-
Geoff Plumb takes us back in time to 1972. More of Geoff’s many days out around and about, including UK scenes in Brighton, Bristol and the London area, among others.… |
2 events,
-
Stuart Hicks presents images of his travels in Canada, Ireland and Germany |
1 event,
-
The major part of the evening will be a presentation entitled "Rails to Midhurst" which is an illustrated talk given by former Assistant County Archivist Bill Gage of West Sussex… |
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
1 event, |
0 events,
|
1 event,
Views on the railway in East London and Essex from the Historic England Aerofilms Collection
£2
|
2 events,
-
The Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch AGM followed by a presentation by John Tigg. From a very young age, living in North West London between the West Coast Mainline… |
0 events,
|
1 event, |
1 event,
-
Derek Cross was a prolific railway photographer and his son David will be showing a selection of his father's photos including scenes at Bristol, Bath and on the Somerset &… |
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
Members' area
The latest edition of The Railway Observer, plus back copies from 2012
Details of benefits available to RCTS members
The directory of Society officers
Officers' administration tools
RCTS-branded clothing sales
Membership renewals for 2024 [opens November 2023]
Branches
The Society has a national network of 28 branches. Each branch has its own committee and operates its own programme of events. Members are assigned to a home branch but are welcome to take part in other branches' activities.
Guests are always welcome.
Features
The Society has several online information services maintained by our dedicated and knowledgeable members. The various features are regularly updated, and we welcome contributions from members and non-members alike.
Each feature has a editor. Click the images to explore.
Diesel Dilemmas
Mysteries and anomalies in the modification and disposal history of British Railways diesel locomotives.
Carriage Conundrums
Mysteries and anomalies in the modification and disposal history of British Railways locomotive hauled coaching stock.
Preserved Coaches
Additions, deletions, movements and modifications to lists of preserved railway rolling stock, regularly updated.
Haulage Highlights
Seasonal services, relief trains, special events and unusual routes, mostly with diesel traction.
Query Corner
Written queries and answers are published here and in The Railway Observer
“Our” Locos
A number of locomotives have proudly carried The Railway Observer nameplate or been associated with the Society. No, we don't own these locomotives, but they are thought of as "ours".
TOPS Reference Data
The Society maintains several datasets of TOPS data for Cl.01/5, Cl.89, Cl.97 and Cl.98 Locomotives, Depot Codes and Locomotive Pool Codes, all of which are regularly updated.
NEW - John Knight's Database of Railway Photography
John Knight is a picture researcher. His database of southern and western England records details of 172,000 images published in 6,500 books.
This RCTS Feature initially opens on an interactive map. When you zoom in, each yellow dot represents a camera location. The background can be changed between contemporary maps, satellite images, and historical Ordnance Survey maps - including the detailed 1:10,560 Series. The dot has a reference number for subsequent searches. Please allow a few seconds for the map to load fully.
There are several other tabs alongside the map. One is the User Guide which explains what data is available and how to undertake searches.
Other tabs are lists of books, authors, photographers, railway companies, locomotive classes, and the like. All are searchable.
NB. The database is an index only. For copyright reasons, the photographs are not reproduced, but there are live links to where each book is currently available to purchase. Usually these are second-hand booksellers.
The RCTS Digital Archive
Photographs
Over 57,000 images are available to purchase as prints or as digital downloads.
The archive also includes many thousands of non-RCTS copyright images. They are available for people to view only online for their personal researches. Users must register (i.e. obtain a Readers' Card) and sign in to gain access.
Publications
A complete collection of the Society's magazine The Railway Observer is available to read online and to purchase as PDF downloads. 1928-2011 is publicly available from the archive; 2012 onwards restricted via the Members' Area.
Many of the Society's publications are available on a similar basis, including definitive series such as Locomotives of the LNER, Locomotives of the GWR, and Locomotives of the Southern. Also locomotive and coaching stock books.
Shop
The items listed below are currently available to purchase, some at sale prices. Click on the product images to read full details of each item.
RCTS members are advised to use the Shop pages in the Member's Area to gain access to exclusive products and special discounts.
Shipping is charged on the whole order. There is a flat rate of £4 for UK addresses, or 40% of the order value for non-UK address, calculated as the basket is added to.
Payment can be made by credit/debit card into the Society's Paypal account. You do not need your own Paypal account to use this service.
Second-hand books are sold by the Library. The list of books available is updated regularly, and is not limited to RCTS publications.
RCTS Publications
RCTS has been a renowned publisher of definitive books on locomotives and other railway subjects since 1935. The books are available online and trade enquiries are welcome. Many are now out of print but you can find a bibliography of all books by following More about RCTS Publications below.
Become an author? Click the button to find out more.
New printing technology means that it has become economic to republish some of the back catalogue, a process that is underway. If you cannot wait, copies are available to view at the Society's library at Leatherhead and second-hand copies may be available to purchase from there.
Featured publications
Categories
Locomotives of the LNER
The definitive series - originally published in 19 parts 1963-1994 - is now available again, in eight volumes.
- Book orders are fulfilled globally by Amazon. The links below point to the Amazon UK shop. In other countries, search Amazon using "Locomotives of the LNER".
- PDF downloads are fulfilled by a separate RCTS online shop at https://archive.rcts.org.uk/rcts-shop/
Volume 1
Cover: Hardback
Price: £18
Volume 1
Cover: Softback
Price: £12
Volume 2
Cover: Softback
Price: £24
Volume 3
Cover: Softback
Price: £21
Volume 4&5
Cover: Softback
Price: £24
Volume 6
Cover: Softback
Price: £24
Volume 7&8
Cover: Softback
Price: £18
Volume 9
Cover: Softback
Price: £18
Volume 10
Cover: Softback
Price: £18