Railway enthusiasts societies in the United Kingdom

A railfan or railway enthusiast and sometimes also called a trainspotter is a person interested, recreationally, in rail transport. Railfans of many ages can be found worldwide. To support the hobby in the United Kingdom, railway enthusiast societies or clubs were formed though many are now defunct.

Long established societies (greater than 20 years)

Some railway enthusiast societies in the United Kingdom have been in existence for many years. One such long established society is Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. It was formed in 1928.[1]

The Industrial Railway Society was founded in 1949.[2] It publishes books for the hobby.

The Inter City Railway Society was formed in 1973.[3] It was a breakaway society formed by former members of the Dalescroft Railfans Club.[4] It publishes a monthly magazine called TRACKS.

Southern Electric Group (SEG) was formed officially in May 1970.[5]

LCGB -The Locomotive Club of Great Britain [6]

The Little Midland Society was formed in Chesterfield in 1967.[7]

Another extant society is The Engine Shed Society. As their name implies, they specialise in motive power sheds.[8]

Defunct societies

A now defunct society is Dalescroft Railfans Club. It was founded by Dale W. Fickes. This organisation ran road trips visiting motive power depots but also ran railtours.[9]

Another defunct society was the Railway Enthusiasts Society Limited -RESL.[10] This was founded by Dale W. Fickes. This organisation mainly ran railtours.[11]

Buckley Wells Railway Enthusiasts went out of existence in 1969 following an over ambitious southern trip.[12] Many of the members then helped form NCTS -Northern Counties Transport Society. NCTS went out of existence in 1981 approximately.

NCTS was formed from the also defunct BWRE Buckley Wells Railway Enthusiasts and the CRE East Cheshire Rail Enthusiasts. In 2020 it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.[13] NCTS now has its own website to collect memories and photographic evidence from former members. It has actively solicited reliable information from other sources and archives too. This society ran road trips by coach and occasionally minibus touring depots. It was extremely common using this method to regularly see over 300 locomotives in a single weekend. Trips mainly set off from outside Manchester Victoria station on a Saturday evening and return later Sunday evening traveling overnight without hotel stops. They also ran some trips over four days with one overnight on the coach and two nights in hotel/hostel accommodation.[14] They produced a lapel badge some of which are still extant, that was a Class 47 in blue with the name of the society below.

See also

References
  1. "Railway Correspondence and Travel Society – RCTS: Britain's leading railway society". Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  2. "Industrial Railway Society". www.irsociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  3. "Inter City Railway Society home". www.intercityrailwaysociety.org. Archived from the original on 2021-01-07. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  4. "Tracks volume 40 number 1" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-27.
  5. "Southern Electric Group – This is the Official Web Site of the Southern Electric Group (SEG)". Archived from the original on 2015-10-15. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  6. "LCGB - The Locomotive Club of Great Britain catering for all railway enthusiasts". www.lcgb.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  7. "About Us". www.littlemidlandsociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  8. "The Engine Shed Society - The Engine Shed Society specialises in the subject of Motive Power Depots". The Engine Shed Society. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  9. "The Railtour Files". www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  10. "30 Years Ago | Rail.co.uk". www.rail.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  11. "Six Bells Junction". www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  12. "BWRE". Northern Counties Tr. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  13. "Lancashire railway enthusiasts celebrating club's 50th birthday with nostalgia night". www.lep.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  14. "Home | Northern Counties Transport Society". Northern Counties Tr. Archived from the original on 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
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