The RCTS Archive & Library, Leatherhead

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The library is open for personal visits by members and non-members.  We continue to open one day a week - see calendar.

13th May 2024 - The Book, Leaflet, Books For Sale and Rail Tour lists have been updated.

 

Location (click RCTS Library for more details)

LIBRARY CORRESPONDENCE must only be sent to the Chief Archivist:

Andy Davies, 34 Victory Park Road, Addlestone, KT15 2AZ – archive@rcts.org.uk

Letters or parcels MUST NOT be sent to Leatherhead as there is no facility to collect post sent there.

Arriving By Train

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/LHD/details.html

Leatherhead is served by Southern services between London Victoria and Dorking or Horsham and by South Western Railway services between London Waterloo and Dorking or Guildford (via Wimbledon), resulting in a very frequent service.

Leave the station by the Platform 1 exit via the booking hall, and the RCTS Archive and Library is on your right.

Arriving by car

The post code for use in your Satnav is KT22 7SW, which will direct you to the correct side of the station. The A245, from the A3 at Cobham or from Junction 9 of the M25, passes the station.

There are station car parks on both sides of the station as well as town centre car parks (about 200m away, under the railway bridge).

The station carpark has lower charges on Saturdays and Sundays while the town car parks charge £1.10 per hour (free on Sunday and Bank Holidays). It depends on the day of your visit and length of stay as to which will be cheaper.

Accessibility

The Stationmaster’s House is a Grade II listed building and , as such, cannot be made fully accessible. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/li…

Wheelchairs can access the ground floor via the side entrance. There is a narrow door between the two ground floor rooms which is usable by narrow wheelchairs or those using Tri-walker walking aids. Steep stairs restrict disabled access to the first floor.

Disabled visitors wishing to view items from the first floor should ask our volunteers to bring them down to the ground floor.

The toilet is not accessible, but there is a unisex accessible toilet on the station (ask the station staff for the key).

Loans

Books and bound magazines may be borrowed by RCTS members in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down by the archivist / librarian.

The material housed at Leatherhead has been acquired over many years, much of it by donations from members of the Society.

RCTS Publications

From its formation in 1928 the society has published a monthly magazine – ‘The Railway Observer’ (for the first few months its title was ‘Railway News’). A complete set of bound volumes is housed at the library and for most years there are several copies.

In 1935 the Society published its first book – ‘The locomotive stock of the main line companies of Great Britain as at 31st December 1934’. Since then the society has continued to produce books on railway subjects, many of which have been detailed histories of locomotives of British railway companies. Copies of all titles are kept at the library.

For many years the society organised rail tours, sometimes in partnership with other societies, and there is a very full collection of the itineraries which were produced for these. A listing of these is available and the contents of this collection are in the process of being digitised.

Administrative records of the society are also held at the library.

Books

There is a stock of upwards of 7000 volumes covering all aspects of railways, including a significant number concerned with railways overseas, some of which are in French, German or Spanish. Included in the collection are reference books, annuals, yearbooks, and largely complete collections of the series published by Oakwood Press and Middleton Press. Copies are held of the books of detailed track plans published by Quail and others, many of which cover ex Great Western and Southern Railway lines. Copies of the reports of traffic surveys carried out by various groups, including the RCTS, are held – these date mostly from the 1950s and 1960s and were usually carried out on Saturdays in summer when many extra passenger trains were run to cater for holidaymakers.

Over the years the Society Librarians have had to be selective in adding to the stock, although a significant proportion of what has been published in this country since early in the 20th century is included. Books consisting largely of illustrations have not usually been collected.

Periodicals

The library holds over 3000 bound volumes of periodicals on railway subjects and continues to receive about 60 titles regularly. These are being reviewed and this level of acquisition may not be maintained in the future, due to the finite space available and the alternative means now often available through on–line and digital means.

The collection includes magazines and journals published by preservation societies and specialist groups, as well as more general titles. There is a complete set of Locomotive Magazine, Railway Magazine, Trains illustrated/Modern Railways and a considerable holding of Railway Gazette. There are volumes of magazines concerning overseas railways including those of affiliated societies in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Other material originates from South Africa, Canada and USA.

Accident Reports

We have a collection of reports of accidents in Great Britain published in earlier years by the Railway Department of the Board of Trade and later by the Health and Safety Executive. The reports mainly concern events in the twentieth century but there are some earlier ones and listings are available. There are also copies of some accident reports from USA.

Archival material

In addition to published books and magazines, the society has acquired a collection of manuscripts, internal documentation and reports, mainly by donation from members. It includes notebooks of observations by various individuals from the 1930s onwards, British Railways locomotive and rolling stock records at various dates from about 1970, track plans and drawings. This is a very mixed collection and a detailed catalogue of this material is in preparation. Meanwhile all the material is accessible for browsing on the shelves.

Within this category are two particularly notable sets of documents

  • The Mike Page collection of manuscripts listing locomotives built by UK and overseas locomotive builders, together with listings of locomotives owned by most railways throughout the world from the beginnings of their history. This material fills six drawers in filing cabinets
  • Detailed abstracts of Acts of Parliament relating to railways in UK compiled by the late Bill Batteson, which are contained in 55 A4 manuscript books. The contents of these books have been scanned and it is intended to make them available in digital format.

A book catalogue and a magazine catalogue are available as Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets or Adobe® Acrobat® files, both formats are searchable. The files may be downloaded from the links below.

A large quantity of magazines (mostly professionally bound) are available in the Archive and Library. These include The Railway Magazine, The Railway Gazette, and many Heritage Railway and Railway Society Magazines. We also have magazines from “The Big Four” and professional bodies.

There is a collection of foreign language magazines, most of which are not at Leatherhead. Those available at Leatherhead are listed in the Magazine Catalogue

The Library collections are extensive and it is not possible to produce full printed catalogues at an economic price.

An explanation of the book numbering system that we use is availiable HERE.

The Railway Observer

Two compete sets of each year from Issue 1 of (When it was called “The Railway News”) to the current issue are held in the Archive. One set is for reference only, the second set is available for loan.

Many bound volumes and single copies of RO issues for many years are available for sale from the Archive and Library, please enquire if you wish to purchase specific issues.

All indices to the Railway Observer have been scanned and are available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. The file is, however, too large to e-mail (87MB). If members require individual years, they can be extracted from the file and sent by e-mail. For this service, a donation to the Society would be appreciated.

Paper copies of the indices are bound in the relevant volume of the Railway Observer. There are also three separate volumes just containing the indices from 1928 – 2005.

Working Timetable (WTT) collection

The Library holds a major collection of working timetables, traffic notices, appendices, rule books and other official documents together with a large collection of public timetables most of which are available on loan to members.

The collection was started in the 1950s, and its size has now become so large that it has become necessary to divide it into two.  These are the Pre-1970 and the Post-1969 Collections.

The Pre-1970 Collection is currently unavailiable. Enquiries by e-mail please – wttpre1970@rcts.org.uk

The Post-1969 Collection is held by Kurt Sickelmore.  NB. current WTTs are not held in the collection.  Enquiries by e-mail please – wttpost1969@rcts.org.uk

We are unable to store the Working Timetable collection at Leatherhead.

Accident reports

A considerable number of accident reports are held. Early reports from the Ministry of Trade or Ministry of Transport are present as paper copies.  Some current copies of reports from The Railway Accident Investigation branch (RAIB) are held as PDF files on the Library computer.

A list of reports may be downloaded here.

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Rail tour itineraries

We have a comprehensive collection of the itineraries of RCTS Rail Tours, a set on paper and also scanned as PDF files. We also have many (300+) itineraries of commercial and other Society’s Rail Tours.  These are scanned  as PDF files and stored on the Library comuter.  However, due to copyright restrictions, these are only available for viewing in the Library.

A list of RCTS Rail Tours may be downloaded here

Other lists

We have, over the years, had a number of lists and indicies generated by our volunteers.  Links to those lists are below.

The List of Debating Society Papers is now updated to include those from the GWR, BR (WR) and BR (LMR) that we hold in the Library.

Railway Leaflet List – Excel format

Railway Leaflet List – PDF format

Railway Debating Societies - Index of Papers – Excel format

Railway Debating Societies - Index of Papers – PDF format

Ian Allan Annuals Index – Excel format

Ian Allan Annuals Index – PDF format

The RCTS Archive and Library has a collection of more than 200,000 photographs in all formats (slides, prints and negatives).  Of these 57,000+ have been scanned and are available for sale via the RCTS Digital Archive.

Many other images are stored ready to be scanned when time and finance allows.  We are currently raising funds to purchase more photographic and scanning equipment for our Archive and Library.  It will then be possible to accelerate the digitisation of the vast archives of historical photographs.  The Society will match your donations.  You can make a donation to the RCTS Photographic Archive here.

We do not, as yet, have a comprehensive index of every image in the archive but as images are scanned, captions will be written and they will be added to the catalogue.

We have the following catalogues / databases that may be down loaded as Excel files:

Our main database is the Photographic Archive Database which lists all images available for sale. It also includes images that have been scanned but are not yet available for sale via the RCTS Digital Archive.

We have several other databases of unscanned images. Some of these detail prints without negatives to scan. The images in these databases are available to view at Leatherhead by prior arrangement.

John Hillmer
John Hillmer photographed many stations and signal boxes which may be of interest to modellers.  This catalogue lists his many albums of prints.

Geoff Dunster
This lists photographs taken in Germany by Geoff Dunster.

David Chatfield
A recently donated collection.

Tom Noble
A recently donated collection.

Catalogues without photos

We also have catalogues where the RCTS does not have the actual photographs.

Trevor F Davis
There are 455 of Trevor's images on the RCTS Photographic Archive Website (code TFD). The majority of the images listed in this spreadsheet are NOT in the RCTS Photographic Archive

If the location of this collection is known to you, please contact photoarchive@rcts.org.uk

G H Taylor
If the location of this collection is known to you, please contact photoarchive@rcts.org.uk

John M Tolson
If the location of this collection (other than the part of the collection at the National Tramway Museum, Crich) is known to you, please contact:
photoarchive@rcts.org.uk

Michael Mensing

We have a large collection of Michael Mensing negatives and slides most of which are still to be scanned.  However Michael Mensing produced index cards cross referencing locomotive numbers to his image numbers.  These index cards have now been scanned and are availiable on the links below.

Diesel Locomotives

Electric Locomotives

Steam Locomotives

GWR Railcars and Preserved Steam Locomotives

Locations

Countries

The Archive and Library holds many surplus books, magazines (bound and unbound volumes) including ROs and RCTS out-of-print publications, which are offered for sale at Leatherhead.  If items are to be posted to the purchaser postage cost will be advised in each case and payment will be required prior to despatch.

A large quantity of Society publications, many long out of print, are for sale and these are listed separately in the PDF file.

Branches also sell surplus books etc. at meetings.  see for example the list from Surrey and Windsor and Maidenhead branches HERE

Visiting

Please –

  • Record your attendance in the attendance register, noting times of arrival and departure
  • Leave all bags in the reception area and coats on the coat hooks.
  • In the event of a fire or emergency alert, follow the fire and evacuation procedure and vacate the building immediately in an orderly manner.
  • Take care on the stairs and in opening and closing doors. (There are strong closure springs on the first floor doors!).
  • Do not prop doors open unless it is absolutely necessary and you have permission from the person in charge (it may be a fire hazard).
  • Always treat other users and volunteers who staff the archive and library with respect.
  • Treat all library stock, furniture, and equipment with care. Do not hesitate to ask for assistance if you need help in accessing or using any library stock or facility.
  • Assist in keeping the tea and coffee area clean and tidy. A donation towards the tea and coffee would be appreciated.

Donations towards the cost of maintaining the library are always welcome.

 

Loans

These rules apply to personal or branch (Library Box) loans.

  • A current RCTS or affiliated Society membership card must be shown when borrowing items.
  • Non-members may NOT borrow items, but CAN visit and view the collection.
  • Loan items must be returned by the due date (normally 6 weeks from the date of loan).
  • Repeated late returns may mean you are refused future loans.
  • Lost or damaged items MUST be replaced at the borrower’s cost.
  • The person in charge has the authority to refuse a loan if necessary.

Please note that some rare, old and/or valuable items are not able to be loaned to members, but can be consulted at Leatherhead.

It is not possible to run the RCTS Archive and Libary without volunteers to assist.  we have five keyholders who take turns at opening the Archive and Library to visitors.

However, we are always in need of volunteers to perform specific tasks, these are occasionally advertised in The Railway Observer but there are many other ongoing tasks such as sorting and tidying that ned to be performed.

If you can assist, please contact archive@rcts.org.uk

A detailed description intended for our volunteers is available HERE.

Helpers' email group

The RCTS Library and Archive has a group E-mail on Groups.io.  This group is free to join for all RCTS Members.  Non-members may also join at present but this may change in the future.

https://rcts.groups.io/g/Library

To subscribe to the group please send an e-mail requesting an invitation and stating your name and membership number to:

Library+owner@RCTS.groups.io

When you receive the invitation – simply reply to it.

The group is intended for:

  • Announcements
  • News
  • Discussion

...of all matters relating to the Archive and Library.

A user guide to groups.io is available at:

https://groups.io/helpcenter

Members-Library-Opening-06Oct18-Andy-Davies
By Peter Wilson

Images by Andy Davies

Saturday 6th October 2018, a dull and wet day, has become a significant date in the history of our Society. At 12 noon on that day a group including the Society President, members of the MC, invited members representing the branches, and invited speakers gathered in the rain for a ceremony to mark the Official Opening of the Society’s Archive and Library in the former stationmaster’s house at Leatherhead station.

President Canon Brian Arman welcomed everyone and thanked all those members and their wives who had contributed knowledge, skills and sheer hard work to the project and to make this day a success. Special thanks were extended to Terence Jenner, who had steered the Society through the legal complications culminating in today’s Opening. The President introduced our speakers, Paul Atterbury, well known broadcaster and writer of books on railway subjects, and Councillor Raj Haque, Chairman of Mole Valley District Council. Paul Atterbury declared his interest in continually seeking out suitable and unusual photographs for his working projects, and stressed the importance of libraries and museums in preserving objects and material, in this case railway oriented, and making them available for present and future generations. Paul then unveiled a plaque at the entrance to the building which declared that the RCTS Archive and Library was indeed there and that he had opened it. Councillor Haque welcomed everyone to the Mole Valley, congratulated the Society on what it had achieved and expressed great pleasure in seeing the former stationmaster’s house being preserved and put to such good use. Chairman Gordon Davies presented RCTS ties and copies of the latest RO to the speakers.

Paul Atterbury
Paul Atterbury cutting the cake

The assemble gathering then moved inside for light refreshments and the cutting of the cake by Paul Atterbury with the words “I now declare this cake open ……………”. A further ceremony followed when the President, in the presence of our former Librarian of 14 years, Terry Silcock, and his wife, Beryl, named the large study room upstairs “The Silcock Room”, and adhered a nameplate to the door.

Terry and Beryl Silcock naming The Silcock Room
Terry and Beryl Silcock naming The Silcock Room

Members made good use of the visit to renew acquaintances and explore the new storage and study facilities. The internal spaces occupied by the Society include two book rooms downstairs and four on the upper floor, kitchen and storage spaces, and an all-important downstairs toilet. Decoration is restrained, with a blue carpet and white painted walls, ceilings and woodwork throughout. Overhead lighting is good and all the rooms have windows letting in natural light. Ground floor windows are frosted to maintain privacy. Furniture throughout is brand new – bookstacks, chairs, tables, etc – and the wooden items are a light oak colour. Walls are adorned with framed paintings/prints of railway subjects and models of railway engines are on display. The Silcock Room has a fixed worksurface the length of one long side, is wired for electronic equipment and has windows overlooking the station platforms.

The study environment here bears no comparison with that at the former Library in Uxbridge, and, for those visiting by train on rainy days, it is just possible to get from the station platform to the Archive/Library without getting wet. Much has been said and written in recent years about the future of the Society’s Archive and Library. It is to be hoped that many members who have not already done so will visit Leatherhead to see what has been achieved, to browse among the stacks, perhaps to make use of the study facilities in The Silcock Room, and give thanks to those who have made all this happen. There is still much to be done: a huge number of photographs to be sorted, for example, and the working timetables are not there (is there room for them?); but there is enough to appreciate the work that has already gone into the project.

Timeline

Plaque-Library-Opening-06Oct18-Andy-Davies
By Andy Davies · written 27th October 2018

An initial version of the business case for proceeding with the leasing of Leatherhead Stationmaster’s House was produced in May 2016 by Andy Davies and Bob Green, but the Management Committee (MC) were reluctant to approve it at that stage, due to the amount of expenditure that was included.

On 9th February 2017 the MC paid a visit to the Leatherhead premises in order to view the completed refurbishment work on the building interior. It was considered that the building work was of excellent quality. This also showed that certain costs included in the original business plan were unnecessary (For example £4500 for floor coverings).

At the June MC meeting I was appointed “Chief Archivist” and then circulated my request for volunteers to assist with running the archive. A sufficient number of people responded to this request to give the MC confidence that we would be able to run an archive at Leatherhead.

In September 2017 Amey TPT (the leasing company acting for Southern Railway) were contacted by our Chairman to introduce himself and advise TPT of changes to the project team. The discussion also established that TPT/Southern were happy to give the RCTS the option of a break to the lease at the 6 year point of the 12 year lease, something considered necessary in case the leasing costs were found to be beyond our means.

A final business case was prepared by the Society Treasurer and presented to the MC at the September 2017 MC meeting. The meeting then formally agreed that the Society proceed with signing of the Leatherhead lease. Southern’s solicitors were informed and an ‘Early Access Letter’ was provided prior to the signing of the lease.

Network Rail then became involved resulting in some changes to the original terms of the lease. It is very likely that the amendments have come about due to the time lag since the original terms were agreed and the inclusion of a break clause as sought by ourselves.

I am now pleased to inform you all that the Early Access Letter has been signed and I have taken possession of the keys to the Stationmaster’s House at Leatherhead Station.

We will now proceed with equiping the building with appropriate furniture and moving the Uxbridge Library, and the stores at Stockport, Stevenage and Northampton to Leatherhead.

I have some volunteers, from my previous request for assistance, but additional help will always be appreciated, please contact me if you can assist.

Once the Early Access Letter was signed and I took possession of the keys to the Stationmaster’s House at Leatherhead Station, the situation changed rapidly. A time line of events in 2018 is as follows:

8 March – Early Access Letter signed

16 March – Keys collected

March – Library furniture quotation updated following measurement of the rooms

1 May – Manuals for the building received

30 May – Quotation Accepted

12 June – Final site survey by FG Library Furniture’s Managing Director

25-26 June – Furniture installed

24 July – Fire Extinguishers installed

25 July – Stockport store packed in boxes

31 July – First delivery from the Stevenage store

5 August – Stockport Store delivered

28-29 August – Uxbridge Library moved

29 August – Uxbridge cleared

4 September – Northampton store moved

7 September – Uxbridge keys handed back

9 September – Second delivery from the Stevenage store

Remainder of September – Tidying and Sorting

30 September – Kitchen Cabinet assembled

30 September – Portable Appliance Testing

5 October – Computer and Plaque installed

5 October – CLEANING

6 October– The Grand Opening

Following the Grand Opening we have now set some initial dates for opening and visitors are welcome, although it is best to confirm that the archive will be staffed for you visit.

Ongoing tasks are to: Continue sorting the books and archive material, stock check, catalogue new items, photographs – Catalogue and Scan (a Huge Task!), publicity and advertising, sell duplicated or unwanted items, decide on our policy for periodicals.

I have some volunteers, from my previous request for assistance, but additional help will always be appreciated, please contact me if you can assist.