London North Western Railway Society

Sir: Whilst the pandemic has caused much disruption over the last 18 months, the LNWR Society took the opportunity to place online its digitised archive material. Whilst this is just a fraction of the collection held at its study centre, it still represents a significant amount of information accessible to members worldwide. Approximately 20,000 catalogued photographs, together with 4,000 drawings, and 1,500 documents are currently available. In addition, nearly 50 years of society publications of Journals, Premier Lines and Portfolios are in the library together with an ever-growing collection of staff magazines published by the LNWR, LMS and British Railways. Whilst much of the archive material is, as you would expect, LNWR orientated, be it from days before or after the company existed, much of the material contained in the digital library’s 600-odd books, covers a wide range of non-LNWR railway material dating from the 1830s to the 1950s. Titles such as Railway Engineer, Engineering and The Engineer are just some of the gems to be found. The online archive has been externally assessed and praised for its ease of use and its capability to search drawings, documents, photographs and videos with one action. Society members access the online archive as part of their membership, which at £35 per annum for quarterly journals and newsletters was already considered great value. People joining now will receive both the December 2021 publications as well as all next year’s. For more information, please visit webpage lnwrs.org.uk/Membership/membership.php or contact via email at membership@lnwrs.org.uk Mike Musson Trustee