railfan A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rail ...

or railway enthusiast and sometimes also called a trainspotter is a person interested, recreationally, in

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

. Railfans of many ages can be found worldwide. To support the hobby in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, 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

have been in existence for many years. One such long established society is

Railway Correspondence and Travel Society The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) is a national society founded in Cheltenham, England in 1928 to bring together those interested in rail transport and locomotives. Since 1929 the Society has published a regular journal ''The ...

. It was formed in 1928. The

Industrial Railway Society The Industrial Railway Society was founded in the United Kingdom in 1949 as the "Birmingham Locomotive Club – Industrial Locomotive Information Section". It is devoted to the study of all aspects, and all gauges, of privately owned industrial ...

was founded in 1949. It publishes books for the hobby. The Inter City Railway Society was formed in 1973. It was a breakaway society formed by former members of the Dalescroft Railfans Club. It publishes a monthly magazine called TRACKS. Southern Electric Group (SEG) was formed officially in May 1970. LCGB -The Locomotive Club of Great Britain The Little Midland Society was formed in Chesterfield in 1967. Another extant society is The Engine Shed Society. As their name implies, they specialise in motive power sheds. The

Heritage Railway Association Heritage Railway Association (HRA) is an umbrella organisation representing the majority of the heritage and tourist railways, railway museums, steam centres and railway preservation groups in the UK and Ireland. Groups and individuals involved ...

celebrated its 60th anniversary on 6 January 2022.

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. Another defunct society was the Railway Enthusiasts Society Limited -RESL. This was also founded by Dale W. Fickes. This organisation mainly ran railtours. Buckley Wells Railway Enthusiasts went out of existence in 1969 following an over ambitious southern trip. Many of the members then helped form NCTS -Northern Counties Transport Society. NCTS went out of existence in 1981 approximately. They published their own magazine. NCTS was formed from the also defunct BWRE Buckley Wells Railway Enthusiasts and the CRE East

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

Rail Enthusiasts. In 2020 it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding. 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 Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was co ...

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. They produced a lapel badge (some of which are extant), that was a Class 47 in blue with the name of the society below.

Publications

Most societies publish their own magazines but some especially in the 1970s published spotting books including Dalescroft and NCTS. At one time up until the early 1970s, the market was cornered by Ian Allan. During the TOPS renumbering of the early 1970s, more speedily updated information was required by enthusiasts and so other publishers and enthusiast societies stepped in to fill the need and gap in the market. This market was later cornered by

Platform 5 Platform 5 is a publisher that specialises in rail transport books and magazines. The full name of the company is Platform 5 Publishing Limited. It was founded by Peter Fox and Neil Webster in 1977. It initially produced books with a target marke ...

publishing.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Railway Correspondence and Travel Society – RCTS: Britain's leading railway society

Inter City Railway Society

Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railway Website

Northern Counties Transport Society website

Locomotive Club of Great Britain website
Railway societies Rail transport in the United Kingdom

Long established societies (greater than 20 years)

Defunct societies

Publications

See also

References

External links