Pre-Grouping line societies

[Compound2632]

It looks like we need to re-start a thread on line societies for the pre-grouping companies. I'll start the ball rolling with links to the society of which I'm a member, the Midland Railway Society, and its superb archive housed at the Midland Railway Study Centre. 

 

Tell you what, I'll put any that are posted in this first post for convenience. Please post any additions, corrections, clarifications or amplifications.

 

First, boxing the compass round the London termini:

 

London and North Western: http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/

Great Central / Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire: http://www.gcrsociety.co.uk/

Midland: http://www.midlandrailway.org.uk/

Great Northern: http://www.gnrsociety.com/

Great Eastern: https://www.gersociety.org.uk/

North London: http://www.nlrhs.org.uk/index.html

London Tilbury and Southend: both the Midland and the Great Eastern societies hold information, I believe.

South Eastern / London Chatham & Dover / South Eastern & Chatham: http://www.southeasternandchathamrailway.org.uk/

London Brighton and South Coast: http://www.lbscr.org/

London and South Western: http://www.lswr.org/

Great Western: http://www.gwsg.org.uk/ also http://www.broadgauge.org.uk/ (perhaps we need a category for societies by width not length).

and also the Metropolitan, Metropolitan District etc.: http://www.lurs.org.uk/index.htm

 

Next the other English and Welsh lines, working back round the compass so as to start with the most important:

 

North Eastern: https://sites.google.com/site/northeasternrailwayassociation/

Lancashire and Yorkshire: http://www.lyrs.org.uk/

Furness, Maryport and Carlisle and other Cumbrian lines: http://www.cumbrianrailways.org.uk/

North Staffordshire: http://www.nsrsg.org.uk/ and also http://www.knottycoachtrust.org.uk/

Hull and Barnsley (slightly out of sequence) - the nearest to a line society I'm aware of is http://www.hullandbarnsleyrailway.org.uk/index.php

Midland and South Western Junction: not a line society as such but http://www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk/

Cambrian and other Welsh lines: http://www.wrrc.org.uk/

 

English Joint Lines:

 

Midland and Great Northern: http://www.mgncircle.org.uk/

Somerset and Dorset: http://www.sdrt.org/

Cheshire Lines Committee: http://www.8dassociation.btck.co.uk/

 

Scottish Railways, in the traditional order by size:

 

Caledonian: http://www.crassoc.org.uk/cra/index.php

North British: http://www.nbrstudygroup.co.uk/

Glasgow and South Western: http://www.gswra.org/ (updated 4 Oct 2017)

Highland: http://www.hrsoc.org.uk/

Great North of Scotland: http://www.gnsra.org.uk/

 

Irish main lines, from south to north (roughly):

 

Dublin and South Eastern:

Great Southern and Western:

Midland Great Western:

Great Northern:

Belfast and Northern Counties / NCC:

Belfast and County Down:

 

Irish minor and narrow gauge lines:

 

Waterford Limerick and Western:

Cork Bandon and South Coast:

Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties:

Dundalk Newry and Greenore (see LNW).

County Donegal etc.

Tralee and Dingle, etc. etc....

 

Does the Irish Railway Record Society: http://www.irrs.ie/ act as the line society for all Irish lines or are there any individual line societies?

 

I'm sure there are many minor lines not covered by the above - the various Isle of Wight, Isle of Man and Jersey companies spring to mind.

 

Various other relevant societies:

 

Historical Model Railway Society: http://www.hmrs.org.uk/

Breakdown Crane Association: http://www.bdca.org.uk/index.html

Vintage Carriages Trust: http://www.vintagecarriagestrust.org/

[Jol Wilkinson]

The LNWR Society;

 

http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/

 

have a Study Centre in Kenilworth and hold "Research Open Days" for members and other interested parties, as well as occasional modelling days.

[asmay2002]

SSMRS website list most of them towards the bottom of this page.

[Caley Jim]

Caledonian Railway Association www.crassoc.org.uk .  

 

Jim

[jamie92208]

The North British Railway Study Group.  http://www.nbrstudygroup.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=116

 

Jamie

[Andy Hayter]

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/74959-links-to-pre-group-line-societies/

 

seems a good starting point now that Simon has run off with his bat and ball.

[wagonman]

The Great Western Study Group www.gwsg.org.uk covers the entire life of the GWR from 1835 onwards – even allow a sneaky look at BR/WR. The produce a quarterly newsletter as well as their journal 'Pannier' which comes out 2-3 times a year. Next issue due soon...

 

 

 

Richard

[PaulT]

GWSG focuses on 20th century.

 

Broad Gauge Society covers 1830s to 1892 for all GWR constituent companies in 19th Century

6 Newsheet p.a and 2 glossy journals p.a called "Broadsheet"

 

www.broadgauge.org.uk

[Tom Burnham]

For Colonel Stephens light railways:

 

The Colonel Stephens Society   http://www.colonelstephenssociety.co.uk/

 

The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum (Tenterden)   http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/

 

Tom. Staplehurst, Kent