The RCTS: then and now
ONE of the strengths of the RCTS is that it has branches across the length and breadth of the country, from the Solent in the south to Scotland in the north, and from Ipswich in the east to South Wales in the west. Unsurprisingly, the distribution tends to reflect the density of population, with London and the south having more than the more sparsely populated areas such as Wales and Scotland. Yorkshire has three branches (the West Riding, Humberside and Sheffield) while the Merseyside, Cheshire & North Wales branch covers a very large geographical region. Many branches, such as the West Riding, fostered excellent relations with their local British Railways regional managers and locomotive inspectors, which permitted unusual itineraries and schedules that could produce exceptional running. The Railway Observer always carried reports of the tours, which almost 70 years ago in 1952 included the following. On March 29, a day of blizzards, the ‘North East London Rail Tour’ took place and, with 739 tickets sold, had to be run in duplicate using ‘J69’, ‘J59’ and ‘L1’ tanks engines plus (on the second trip) ‘E1’ 4-4-0 No. 31507 between London Bridge and New Cross Gate. The ‘South Yorkshire’ tour ran on May 11 using Midland ‘2P’ No. 40487 and ‘B1’ No. 61166. A week later, the Isle of Wight was the destination, which featured ‘E1’ No. W3 Ryde and ‘O2s’ Nos. W32 Bonchurch and W14 Fishbourne. The Bishop’s Waltham branch was visited on June 14 when a ‘C14’ 0-4-0T worked a two-coach train from Eastleigh with 93 members on board. A break with steam came on June 22 when 48 members travelled on exGWR diesel railcar No. W24 for a tour of the Wye Valley, Brecon and Merthyr. For many members the celebration of the centenary of Brighton Works was the highlight of 1952, with the running of two Pullman specials from Victoria to Brighton on October 5 and 19, using Brighton ‘Atlantics’ Nos. 32424 Beachy Head and 32425 Trevose Head, with both locos performing well on the 60-minute schedule. On October 11, the society ran a special that traversed the Catterick Camp Military Railway using ‘A5’ 4-6-2T No. 69842. The railtour programme for the year came to an end on November 23 when a trip to the Bisley Tramway and north-west Surrey was organised at short notice after news broke that the track of the tramway was to be lifted. Motive power duties was shared by ‘0395’ 0-6-0 No. 30577 and ‘M7’ 0-4-4T No. 30027. Until Covid-19 struck, branches have continued through the decades to organise outdoor events and site visits alongside the traditional slide and film shows and talks by prominent railwaymen, journalists and photographers. Rapidly adapting during the pandemic, the society has been running numerous virtual meetings by Zoom, with audiences topping 100 on several occasions. Meanwhile, despite lockdowns, the Railway Observer has continued to report on daily life on the network, accompanied by the usual excellent pictures which have benefitted from the new A5 size format. For information about the society and how to get involved, visit www. rcts.org.uk