CHR Bassil Shippam Centre

From starting his railway career as a Junior Railman at Chatham in 1974 to becoming the Incident Controller at Croydon in 2008, Peter Gibbons has gained a wealth of rail operating experience and knowledge throughout the former Central and South Eastern Divisions of BR Southern Region.  Peter takes us through the evolution of railway signalling…

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 Record Office. The presentation is not a technical one and can be enjoyed by both railway enthusiasts and those interest in social history . The…

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 between 1970 and 1974. During that time, we went on three fortnight visits to Europe in 1971, 1972 & 1973 visiting West Germany mainly, limited…

The NCC ("Northern Counties Committee") was the Irish arm of the LMS (and the MR before that). The talk is mainly 1958 - 1970 when the NCC ran the last mainline steam in these islands. Using the slides of the late Lance King, I will take you on a trip along the lines still open…

The coastal route in and around Dawlish during the period from the late1950's to the early 2020's is explored in this 4 part video presentation. The changing motive power scene from steam  through diesel hydraulics, diesel electrics and on to high speed trains and bi mode Azuma's is illustrated together with changes to the railway…

Three local members present a fascinating mix of railway related images. Ardrian Willats will cover Preserved Railways from 1982-2018. Ian Mckey has many tales and pictures to show from his UK rail journeys spread far and wide. Roger Sandford will show images taken by the late Bruce Oliver, a real UK pot pourri, but also…

"Although freight traffic today generally means stone and containers (of which we will see plenty) we will also see some of the flows of coal which existed until the last few years. Geographical coverage is from Hampshire (a surprising modern day freight "hotspot") and South Wales to the West Highlands of Scotland" 

Richard Coghlan presents a picture show of the line from Didcot to Southampton via Winchester Chesil, closed between 1960 & 1962. An array of ‘then & now’; some dates; pictures from his collection, and how the collection started. The image illustrates the bay platform at Newbury.