Happy birthday to the RCTS
Society Chairman GORDON DAVIES chronicles the history and the role of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this month
The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society began with a small group of enthusiasts meeting in a garden shed at Cheltenham Spa in September 1927, forming themselves into the Cheltenham Spa Railway Club. Later that year, operations moved to a ‘club room’ in a member’s house.
Various forms of publicity were tried to make the existence of the club better known, including newspaper advertisements, distributing leaflets on a Swindon educational excursion and even a dance in Cheltenham. The last may not have done much in the way of increasing membership, but did show a profit of 15 shillings (75p)!
In January 1928 came the breakthrough to national status. It was agreed that Cheltenham Spa Railway Club lacked national appeal, and the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society was born. The name apparently stemmed from an early scheme, where there were to be ‘Full’ members and ‘Corresponding’ members. This never materialised, but nevertheless left its mark on the title. Advertisements were placed inviting membership enquiries, and the Society’s
magazine was launched under the title of The Railway News.
The general rules of the Society appeared for the first time on the inside cover of the January 1930 Railway Observer (as the magazine was now called), which set out the authority of the Managing Committee (MC). By the end of 1930 membership stood at about 350. In October 1931, the Cheltenham-based MC was replaced by one based in London under the chairmanship of John Kite.
In the 1930s, affiliations were made with various overseas railway societies. First was the Railroad Enthusiasts of America in 1936, followed by French and Dutch societies in 1938. The first overseas tour took place in 1937, and the first ever main line rail tour on September 11 1938 when Stirling Single No.1 worked from King’s Cross to Peterborough. The first provincial industrial railtour quickly followed with the Manchester Ship Canal tour on November 19.
The rapid progress of the RCTS was brought to a halt with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. Even so, it continued to function throughout the war years, both at home and overseas.
The underlying structure of the Society has remained unchanged for many years, but in recent years (in addition to the Management Committee) a Publications Committee was formed in the early 1960s to find and assist authors in the production of the wide range of Society books.
Around ten years ago, the Management Committee decided to place more emphasis on the future of the Society by forming a Development sub-committee tasked with finding ways to increase society membership. This included everything from advertising to new initiatives to attract members such as the recent ‘Drive a Class 185’ competition.
BRANCHES
By the end of 1930, the Society had a large group of members in London who wanted more in the way of meetings and visits than
could be arranged by remote control from Cheltenham. A London Social Section was duly formed in 1931. This was followed by Birmingham, and by 1936 branch meeting programmes were published for Lancashire, North Eastern, Scottish, South of England, Stoke and West of England areas. The local sections liaised directly with the MC and did not have their own management committees.
While some of the branches had been organising shed visits as part of their programmes, these ceased with the outbreak of war and only branch meetings continued wherever possible. Even so, during wartime two further branches were established: the Middle East branch with meetings in Cairo; and a ‘Far Eastern’ branch which held meetings in a Prisoner of War camp in Thailand.
Following the cessation of war, the local groups resumed regular meetings and shed visits, and between 1949 and 1951 each branch was formally constituted with its own management committee. Over the years more branches were formed but others closed, much depending on the enthusiasm of those running each branch. There had been a London branch since 1930, but a population drift away from central London led to the branch closing in 2002 and branches forming and flourishing in towns outside the capital. There are currently 30 branches around the country organising meetings and visits.
The branch structure of the society continues to be important, giving the opportunity to meet friends to talk about the current railway scene, but also to allow members to meet members of the management committee, some of whom tour the country giving presentations on their favourite railway subjects.
The branch network continues to grow, with four new groups opening in the last few years. Even so, not all areas are covered - for example, the West Midlands branch, which meets in Birmingham and Coventry, is responsible for members in Aberystwyth. This explains in part why only around 40% of members ever attend branch meetings, although some branches now have afternoon meetings as well as evening sessions, attracting a completely different group of attendees. A vast range of subjects is covered, often involving high-profile speakers from the
rail industry.
VISITS
Visits to railway installations have always played a part in Society activities - indeed, many became members for this reason. The first of these seems to have been made to Gloucester on June 24 1928. Industrial concerns operating railways were also included - the first such visit was to Beckton gasworks, on July 21 1928.
After the war, shed visit facilities were reinstated rapidly, and by 1953 most sheds and works were available to visit with a permit. The Fixtures List showed 230 shed visits along with 80 to works.
Many involved the use of Saturday overnight rail travel, returning on Sunday evening. Coach travel was increasingly employed, both in conjunction with rail travel and others made entirely by coach. Although for many members locomotives were their interest, control rooms, signal boxes, marshalling yards and industrial systems also featured. One visit was even made to the Hellingly Asylum Railway.
Shed and works visits continued well into the 1970s and 1980s, but gradually it became more and more difficult to obtain permits. At the same time industrial systems were closing, with road transport proving to be a cheaper alternative. The health and safety legislation sounded the death knell of the traditional shed visits - in latter days parties were required to be escorted, and woe betide anyone who crept away from the group!
Mention must be made here of the annual ‘Scottish Bash’, organised by the East Midlands branch and which took place at Whitsun each year. These trips started in the early 1950s and ran for 21 years. Being of only three days’ duration not all sheds could be covered in the time, and so there were annual variations to the agenda.
In the heyday of railway societies across the country in the 1950s and 1960s, many joined simply to go on shed visits. Even following the demise of steam, shed and works trips remained a feature of the offering of most RCTS branches.
However, with the variety of motive
power, reduction in the number of sheds and the ever-tightening screw of health and safety, the end was in sight for the traditional ‘shed bash’. Even so, the RCTS continues to make visits to railway installations with the help and interest of operators and manufacturers.
RAILTOURS
From 1950 to 1969, RCTS Rail Tours were the public face of the Society. During that period, 300 special trains carried the RCTS headboard. Given that most tours involved more than one locomotive, and some as many as five or six, the total number of locomotives used is likely to have exceeded 1,000.
The first rail tour was with No.1 in 1938, but the next was not until September 1950, when a tour from Holborn Viaduct to Victoria included an amble around many suburban lines in London. It employed three engines and the fare was 3/6 (17.5p). Unsurprisingly, it was heavily over-subscribed and ran again the following week, with 850 passengers in total.
Initially most tours were in the summer months, but on February 6 1955 some 540 passengers travelled on The Hampshire Railtour to mark the closure of the Meon Valley and Pulborough-Petersfield branches. Thereafter, rail tours ran throughout the year.
Much as today, it was realised that some co-ordination and co-operation was needed between railway societies, and a Rail Tour Co-ordination Committee was formed around 1960. The Stephenson Locomotive Society Ivatt 2MTs 41202 and 41203 pick up passengers at Yatton on April 28 1957, on the North Somerset rail tour. The tour originated at Waterloo with traction provided by 30453 King Arthur to Reading and then 3440 City ofTruro to Bristol. The 2MTs took over from Bristol to Yatton before running over the Cheddar Valley branch to Wrington and then to Highbridge. 41202 and 41203 took the train back to Bristol, where 3440 plus 2-6-2T 5528 took over to Paddington. was the main partner, but the Manchester Locomotive Society and Leicester Railway Society were among the local groups who were also involved, while the Locomotive Club of Great Britain was a later participant. The ‘package’ offered by the society was also improved, with standard booking forms and quality itineraries complete with hand-drawn maps.
Most tours ran to plan, but there was the occasional problem, such as when the London Midland was asked to provide an ex-GER Cafeteria car in the formation - which it duly did, but with no staff or food to go with it.
A first for the Society was providing its own catering from a guards van on a brand new diesel multiple unit (DMU), used on the White Rose rail tour of June 8 1958. A profit was made on the tour… a fantastic £1.65!
One tour, which used goods brakevans and included the Leicester West Bridge branch, was in danger of being over-booked. The branch organiser’s solution was to ban women from joining the tour on the grounds that they would find Glenfield tunnel wet and sooty!
The aforementioned East Midlander tours included a full dining service always staffed by the BR crew from the Nottingham-St Pancras breakfast service, thus ensuring a superb standard of service for the participants - including the availability of a gin and tonic or a beer at 0930 on a Sunday.
Although the Society continued to run tours following the demise of steam, often using DMUs and sometimes in association with other organisations, increased charges and the shrinking network reduced the scope considerably. A very different market grew up for ‘Merrymaker’ type trips run by commercial organisations, led by BR itself and aimed at the general public. When privately owned steam was eventually allowed to return to regular use, the commercial organisations then dominated the market (although it is doubtful that they feature the same sense of adventure enjoyed on the early Society tours).
OVERSEAS TOURS
The first overseas tour took place on July 4 1937, when 19 members visited Nord sheds in Calais and Boulogne on a day excursion. With the war intervening, the next trip did not take place until 1954, when a day excursion took members to Dublin. Further visits to France and Ireland soon followed.
As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Dutch society NVBS in 1956, 30 members enjoyed a three-day trip to the Netherlands, including travelling on two rail tours there. Trips to Austria and Denmark followed by 1958 ( both eight-day events).
It was clear that with tours of this length a more formal approach to planning was needed, and an Overseas Tours Committee was formed. Annual eight-day tours then took place, while in 1962 a 16-day trip was organised to Finland and Sweden. Getting behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ was the next objective - a short notice tour to Hungary in 1964 was followed by Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in 1965 and 1966 respectively, and then East Germany and Romania.
With the cessation of BR steam, British enthusiasts cast their gaze further afield, and in September 1968 45 members left on a tour of South Africa, jointly organised with Ian Allan. Once again, it was necessary to co-ordinate visits to avoid clashes with other societies, and the Overseas Railway Study Group was formed with five other societies participating (under the chairmanship of David Ibbotson, of Dorridge Travel Services).
Rising costs and commercial competition caused the society to reduce its organising of overseas tours, with the Tours Committee disbanded in 1976. However, for the Society’s
Golden Jubilee in 1978 a foreign tour seemed appropriate, and a small group toured South Africa by minibus.
Further tours followed, with one to Ireland in 1979 proving a particular challenge to organisers. An Irish postal strike not only stopped the post, but also the phone service, requiring the organisers to go to Ireland and visit each hotel to be used on the trip to negotiate a price and reserve rooms. At the time, there were also discussions between the Irish and UK governments about joining the European Exchange Rate mechanism, leading to great uncertainty of the value of the Pound to the Punt.
Such was the interest in some tours that one coach-based excursion to France in 1982 had 155 participants. A planned tour to India had to be rapidly changed to South Africa in 1984, following the murder two weeks before departure of Indira Ghandi, which led to a great deal of unrest in the country. The Society did eventually get there in 1986.
The collapse of a number of travel companies in 1990 resulted in regulations being brought in concerning requirements for those organising ‘package holidays’. This made it very difficult for the Society to run its own tours, and subsequent foreign tours were run with the help of Macs Tours (later Great Rail Journeys). Despite the regulations, small groups continued to travel abroad under the RCTS banner.
THE RAILWAY OBSERVER
The first issue of the Society’s magazine, then called The Railway News, came out in May 1928. It consisted of 12 sheets of quarto-sized paper stapled in one corner and was produced on a second-hand duplicator at the secretary’s home. Then, as now, the content was based on members’ observations supplemented by articles and society news.
Five issues followed at monthly intervals, until the duplicator broke down. Fortunately, salvation was at hand after the London branch persuaded a local printer to do the job. The format was now folded foolscap with a stapled spine.
In March 1929 Transport (1910) Ltd, which published The Railway Gazette, said that the use of the title The Railway News was a breach of their copyright, the title having previously been an independent publication which amalgamated with The Railway Gazette in 1918. After a suitable apology was accepted by Transport (1910), the last issue of The Railway News came out in February 1929 and
The Railway Observer (RO) was born, with the March edition designated Volume 1, number 1. Volume 2 was started with the January 1930 issue, which had a duplicated and coloured card cover. The first printed RO appeared in February 1932, and illustrations started the following month.
The success of the magazine lay in building up personal relationships with railway officers, in order to obtain and publish the latest news and up-to-date stock changes.
Publication continued after the onset of war, with information still coming via the ‘personal’ route until September 1940. However, from October 1939 RO was submitted to the censor, and despite meetings with the Ministry of Information to agree what was acceptable to appear, the October 1940 edition had nearly all the locomotive allocations ‘blue pencilled’ for removal.
In November 1940, details of LNER service alterations appeared and were blue pencilled. Despite protestations that these had appeared in The Times newspaper, the censor would not relent. And when told that the information could also be obtained from the LNER timetable (price 6d - 2.5p) the censor retorted that the Germans might not have the latest edition.
A more sensible approach from the censor gradually took hold, but in April 1942 more stringent paper rationing led to the size of the RO being reduced to just 12 pages and the covers were discarded. Membership recruitment also ceased, as no additional copies of the RO could be printed.
From 1946 things started to improve, with the RO totalling 200 pages for the year. As the publication grew in size and complexity the editor was joined by a team of sub-editors and proof readers.
The appearance of the RO had evolved over the years, but for a long time the cover had featured a line drawing of the Society’s adopted engine - Schools class 30925 Cheltenham. A less cluttered cover was introduced in 1961, with Cheltenham featuring more prominently. Further revisions followed, with the next major one in 1972 when
Cheltenham was removed, but it was not until 1981 that a modern traction drawing graced the cover. As is often the case, a change of editor meant a change in design, and in 1984 a black and white photograph was used on the cover each month.
Developments in magazine production,
paper stock and the reproduction quality of photographs all raised the quality of the magazine. For a long time photographs had been grouped together in the centre of the magazine, but with the change in both production methods and paper quality photographs could now appear anywhere in the magazine. In November 1993, the first colour picture appeared on the front cover.
It is possibly The Railway Observer that has undergone the greatest change in recent years. While the backbone of its content remains the reporting of the current railway scene, technology advances have led to big changes in how members can receive information and the way in which the Society puts together its magazine.
The days of typewritten copy being sent to a printing company who then compiled pages in hot metal are long gone. The advent of desktop publishing allowed the Society to be an early adopter of a computer to produce the magazine, investing in a Mac in the days when these machines cost £ 7,000 per unit.
For most of the magazine’s existence, members’ observations had to be submitted by post, as did photographs and slides. Proof copies also had to be posted out and back to the proof readers. Today, nearly all of this happens via email with digital images the norm. The latter has encouraged more members to submit their high-quality images, and today’s Railway Observer is a full-colour magazine with up to 50 pictures per month, many taken within just a few days of the magazine going to press.
The number of pages has also increased markedly, with the annual total usually topping 900. Members also now have the option of receiving their RO in the post or opting for digital membership and reading the RO online via the website.
All of this has happened against a background of ‘instant’ communication via the internet, and the development of numerous ‘apps’ that have revolutionised the way in which many enthusiasts receive their information.
WEBSITE
The Society has had a website for over ten years, and it is now undergoing its third rejuvenation. As well as carrying details of the various society events, there are features such as diesel dilemmas and the (currently being developed) modern traction liveries library, where it is hoped eventually there will be a picture of every livery variant carried by all modern traction types since the 1950s. The image count currently exceeds 1,200.
PUBLICATIONS March 1935 featured the first Society publication. Titled the Locomotive Stock
Book, this was the first up-to-date list of all locomotives on the main line in Britain, and included M&GN, LT and CLC stock. It was free to members or one shilling ( 5p) to non-members. It was then produced annually until 1939 and resumed publication in 1946, running in the same format until 1969.
Despite the wartime restrictions a book entitled The Locomotives of the LNER 1923-1937 was published. This was a compilation of articles that had appeared in the RO.
In 1951 Part 1 of Locomotives of the GWR was produced. This set out for the first time to write a history of each locomotive owned by a major company, and ran eventually to 14 parts with the last appearing in 1993. In hindsight, the GWR project started a little too early as many of the engines were still in service at the time the relevant volumes were published, and so the history of those locomotives reflects their ‘in service’ history at the time each volume was published.
The massive undertaking of the series on the locomotives of the LNER was far more comprehensive - a project that took 36 years to finish. At the same time books were produced on the Southern Railway and its constituent companies.
As with most things the society does, publications have changed in recent years. The much-acclaimed series of books on the GWR, SR and LNER classes, while going into ever more detail, had been A5 size with
all illustrations in black and white. With the advent of the BR standards series, the books became A4-sized hardback titles with some colour illustrations and evermore detail. The first books in the LMS series started to come out before the five-part BR Standards were completed, with the latest covering the LMS Pacific types with a volume on the Patriots to follow.
However, it appears that this might be the last of its traditional books. Authors are becoming increasingly hard to find, while railway book sales are generally dropping to levels where the economics of publication just do not add up when covering the less-followed classes. Desktop and digital publishing may well hold the key to continuing the society tradition of detailed books on railway subjects.
THE SOCIETY LIBRARY
The date of the founding of the Society library is lost in the mists of time, but seems to be between 1932 and certainly by 1935, when it was first mentioned in The Railway Observer. It was initially housed at the Railway Clearing House (later the London Midland region headquarters), near Euston station.
The library has grown to be one of the most comprehensive collections of railway books in the country, purely by donation from members and friends. It moved to a house in Uxbridge in 1980, and subsequently to further buildings on the same site. The team of volunteers provided library services to members, as well as starting the long process of digitising back copies of The
Railway Observer, with plans to eventually have the full RO archive available in a searchable format on the RCTS website.
By 2011 the stock of books was so overcrowded that in combination with a lack of parking to allow sufficient member access, it was decided that the library had to be closed to visitors. With the books safely stored, the long process of looking for a new home goes on, hopefully to be finally resolved in 2018.
For many years those not able to visit the library in person could borrow books by post. This allowed every member to use the facility if they wished, with selections of books also sent to the various branches for local member loans. If members did not know which book they required, they could just ask the librarian to find them ‘all the books you have on so and so’. Provided the member had money on deposit to cover postage, the books would duly appear after a few days.
PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIOS
As with the library, the exact origins of the photographic portfolio scheme are not known, but it started before 1939.
Members would submit prints of their work to a co-ordinator who would then circulate them to all those signed up - for comment on the composition and quality of each image. The pictures and comments would eventually
return to the contributor, with the whole purpose being to try and help photographers improve their work through constructive criticism. Portfolios continue today, but usually via the circulation of digital files.
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
Like the Society library, the photographic archive has come about by members donating their photographic collections. It started in 1998, when nearly 4,000 negatives were received. Since then, many donations and bequests have been received and catalogued.
The major challenge has been in identifying many of the pictures, as often no information has been received with the originals - either not recorded by the photographer, or kept in a separate book or computer file which has been lost or not associated with the pictures. While this presents a problem with the cataloguing, it has provided many members with hours of interest as they seek to establish dates, locations and other information.
Like the number of books held by the Society, the photo archive has continued to grow. It has expanded rapidly in recent years, especially with the arrival of the vast collection of pictures taken by Michael Mensing. Cataloguing and scanning of the collection is a major ongoing task, with all such logged images available for sale via the society website (as are many of the earlier images).
SOCIETY LOCOMOTIVES
The society has never owned any locomotives, but has adopted four during its existence.
For a long time, Southern Railway Schools 4-4-0 Cheltenham was the Society mascot. It first appeared on the cover of the RO in 1936, where it remained until 1972. Even though it was the mascot, mentions of the engine in the RO were very infrequent until the Society raised its profile by requesting it for rail tours.
It made its first appearance in 1956, when it headed the Western Wyvern to Weymouth, although perhaps its most photographed outing took it from Nottingham to Darlington in partnership with LMS 2P 40646 in 1962. It was withdrawn in December of that year, having run 1,127,788 miles.
As the Society president was on the consultative panel for the Preservation of British Transport Relics, he was able to influence the choice of 30925 for the National Collection over the likely choice of 30900. After storage at various locations it was eventually displayed in the National Railway Museum before being restored to working order at the Mid-Hants Railway.
Class 37 D6868 had led a standard life on BR, and after a brief spell working in South Wales spent most of its working life based in the North East of England. Having gone through BR green and blue (as 37168), it was renumbered 37890 in October 1987 with sector livery.
When the Society was seeking to raise its profile, it was suggested that the naming of a current BR locomotive might be appropriate. 37890 was suggested, and was named The
Railway Observer on February 18 1994 at Hither Green. It carried a supplemental plaque which read The journal of the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society. Founded 1928. RCTS.
Unfortunately, 37890 was to run for only five years more before being selected to go to France, and its nameplates were removed in 1999. The engine returned to the UK and survived until 2010 before being cut up.
With the nameplates back with the Society, the search began for another engine to carry them. An approach was made to EWS, which selected 60001 to display them. It had been built in 1989 and carried the name Steadfast when new, but this was removed in 1996. The naming took place at Toton on February 23 2001.
It might have been expected that the plates had a good home for years to come, but this was not to be. Along with many Class 60s, 60001 was put in store at Toton and gradually deteriorated, although it was then chosen to be one of the members of the class to be refurbished and returned to service. However, this involved being repainted in DB livery with no nameplates being carried.
Once again, the search was on for a suitable locomotive to promote the Society.
The RCTS approached Network Rail, which agreed to bestow the name on HST power car 43014 with the naming ceremony taking place at Derby on June 17 2014. This is perhaps the most appropriate machine to have carried the name - as part of the New Measurement Train, it can be observed in many more parts of the country than any of the former ‘Society Locomotives’.
The Society also owns a number of nameplates, and in recent years has sought to put these on public display. A number of these can be found at the Severn Valley Railway, the Bluebell Railway, Isle of Wight Steam Railway, and at a hotel in Sheffield.