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
Members Weekend 2022 – Reading
Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd October 2022 We have an exciting programme of events planned for the weekend, including visits to Didcot, Reading depot, and Fawley Hill. Please refer to…
Members’ Day and AGM 9th April 2022
We are delighted to be able to hold a face-to-face Members’ Day and AGM this year. Please read the special AGM Supplement for full details of the day. AGM Supplement…
Photograph archiving
January’s National Zoom meeting was a wonderful presentation by The Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Using the Zoom platform meant that the CRPA team could join us from Madison,…
Website relaunched
The Society has had a website for about 20 years. It has grown from being a simple advertisement to being the main way for many members to interact with the…
COP26 and the RCTS
RCTS member David Cross was involved with a three-day event at Mossend, timed to coincide with COP26 in nearby Glasgow. The event was showcasing alternative lower-carbon locomotive fuels, and was…
National meeting 30 Sep 21
Presenter: Derek Huntriss One of the legendary “Master Neverers“, who produced outstanding photographs of British Railways Steam in its last decade, Derek Huntriss is an excellent photographer with many years’…
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 01-Mar-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
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2 events,
An expert on the S&C, Colin will trace its origins, construction and eventual history
£2
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2 events,
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Adrian Garner started modelling monorails in the 1960's and his research on monorails both within the UK and internationally has been collated into his two books on monorails covering the period to…
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A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Tony Field. Details to follow. Doors open at 13:30 for 14:00 start. |
1 event,
Virtual Event
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Virtual Event
'Although Cheltenham opened in 1847 and Stratford in 1859, it was nearly another 50 years before the 20 mile gap between Honeybourne & Cheltenham was filled. This show covers the… |
1 event,
Featured
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Featured
Virtual Event
Jeremy Harrison looks back to twenty years ago, and what he was able to photograph then, both at home and abroad, ranging from his local tram stop to Eritrea, showing… |
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1 event,
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Steve Batty heads south again to present 'From the Back of the Cupboard', because it's made up of B&W shots he has always ignored before when putting a show together,… |
3 events,
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Taking place a week earlier than normal owing to availability issues at our regular venue, the march meeting of the South Wales/De Cymru branch of RCTS will feature a presentation…
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2 events,
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A presentation by the Director General of the Rail Freight Group, Maggie Simpson OBE. |
1 event,
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After a short A.G.M. Branch Treasurer Stewart Jolly will present 'Midland Blue, covering Midland Railway lines in the 1980's. |
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6 events,
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We start at Swindon - head west on the "new" route to South Wales as far as the Bristol/Gloucester route where we turn north - taking in the Midland Route…
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A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Dave Hepper. Details to follow. Doors open 13:30 for 14:00 start.
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We have all heard of the Grouping but how much do we really know about it? Robin Gibbons takes a deep dive into the Grouping including looking at the development… |
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Ian Quinn will tell us the story, recollections and memories of keeping the LNER's 1947-built PS Waverley afloat during her preservation years and beyond. A book based on the presentation… 
Featured
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Featured
Brian visits us with a pictorial presentation of images taken in the East Midlands area in the latter part of the 20th Century
£3.50 – £5
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1 event,
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Chris Holland returns to entertain us with a selection of images from his extensive collection As a life long railwayman, who was involved in many projects during his career Chris…
£2
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3 events,
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Making this presentation is Nick Booker, Chairman of the Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group and a member of the FR/WHR Heritage Advisory Committee
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This presentation outlines the history and development of Stratford depot, then describes the depot in the late 1980s and his experiences as an engineering trainee there. The various workings of… |
3 events,
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Phil Deaves - a career railwayman, takes us on a journey looking at Britain’s changing railway. Starting in the 1980’s, his early interest in railways with his local church Crusader… |
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4 events,
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Mike Dodd from the Restoration and Archiving Trust at Toddington returns, this time to bring us images of the railways around our home area.
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2 events,
Both engines sprang from a quest for higher express speeds on the East Coast Mainline. They still grace main lines and heritage railways after years of success.
£2
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2 events,
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Chief Executive Steve Oates comes to tell us about The Heritage Railway Association, the UK-wide trade association and professional support body representing, protecting and promoting the interests of heritage and… |
1 event,
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John Barrowdale writes: The illustrated talk covers visits to western Europe for photographing remaining steam services organised by myself and friends and 5 short weekend visits organised by the LCGB… |
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A Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Dave Goodyear. Details to follow. Doors open 13:30 for 14:00 start. |
3 events, |
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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. |
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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