HTC Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch
The Bridge is Down! – New Investigation into the Tay Bridge Disaster
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomA Presentation by Dr Rudi Newman, Transport Historian and Author When the Tay Bridge collapsed in 1879, commemorated by poet William McGonagall, the confidence of the Victorian Age was shattered. Seen as a triumph of engineering, its destruction with the loss of a train and all souls aboard revealed fatal deficiencies in design and construction…
Over Half a Century has Passed
HTC Welwyn Garden City Ludwick Way Methodist Church, 149 Ludwick Way, Welwyn Garden City, United KingdomA Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by Geoff May. Just in time, Geoff May was fortunate enough to capture on camera the final years of the steam age on the Southern and London Midland Regions of BR. The selection of photos in both monochrome and colour convey his memories and impressions of a…
Passenger Services Across the UK During the Past Decades
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomA Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Paul Chancellor. Paul is the proprietor of Colour-Rail and author of rail related books and articles. He promises us a talk ranging from the “Elizabethan” to some remote Scottish branch lines. Doors open at 7:00pm
A Branch Line to Disney
HTC Welwyn Garden City Ludwick Way Methodist Church, 149 Ludwick Way, Welwyn Garden City, United KingdomA Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation by Steve Lacey The story of the Gravesend West Street branch which, before the tunnelling under the Thames and East London was complete, formed the way into London via a cord at Southfleet, along the line of the old branch, to join the classic line into…
From Rookie Journalist to Grumpy Old Man
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomA Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by David Percival This is a change of speaker from the original programme. David is well known locally for this photography skills and as a historian on the ECML in the local area, having worked on railway magazines for most of his life he is a…
The Great Northern Railway and King’s Cross
HTC Welwyn Garden City Ludwick Way Methodist Church, 149 Ludwick Way, Welwyn Garden City, United KingdomA Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by Ray Schofield. York was the “gateway to the north”, and just two years after the London & Birmingham Railway - Britain's first mainline – opened, York was connected to the rail network. The route, from Euston via Rugby, Leicester and Derby was 40miles longer…
Hitchin & Welwyn Garden City Branch Visit to Nene Valley
Nene Valley Railway , United KingdomA visit to the nearby Nene Valley Railway, including a tour of the workshops, Wansford signal box etc Meet 11:00am at Wansford. It is essential to book your place for this visit - contact the branch secretary. Friends and family welcome.
Hitchin, the Last Few Years
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomA presentation by Richard Allen. Expect a very local presentation from Richard, one of our local branch members. Doors open from 19:00
ECML Part 2 : York to Edinburgh
HTC Welwyn Garden City Ludwick Way Methodist Church, 149 Ludwick Way, Welwyn Garden City, United KingdomA presentation by Stephen Gay. As the title says, this is the second part of Stephen's travel along the East Coast Mainline (Part 1 was in October 2021). Covering the 205 miles from York to Edinburgh and calling at the principle stations along the route. We can expect to see Stephen's recently taken photos described…
A Swiss Railway Trilogy (Part 1)
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomA Hitchin and Welwyn Garden City Branch presentation. 11th October at Hitchin. A presentation by Steve Ollive Part one of Steve’s talk on Swiss Railways covers the three primary mainline railways (SBB, BLS and SOB) as well as the private railways beginning A to C (starting with the Apenzeller Bahn and moving as far as…
Great Western Locomotives in Preservation
HTC Welwyn Garden City Ludwick Way Methodist Church, 149 Ludwick Way, Welwyn Garden City, United KingdomA Hitchin and Welwyn Garden City Presentation. 25th October at Welwyn Garden City. A presentation by Richard Morris. After the end of regular main line steam on BR, the preservation movement got to work and saved representative locomotives from most of the constituent companies. Some locos sadly didn’t make it, a few of those have…
The Southern Past and Present
HTC Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Upper Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, United KingdomRemembering The End of Southern Steam – A Personal View 50 Years On. A Hitchin and Welwyn Garden City branch presentation by Des Shepherd. 1967 saw the end of steam operation on the Southern Region. In the months leading up to July 1967, Des Shepherd made many visits to experience the final rites of steam…