SLS Meetings Visits and Calendar

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June
July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec

About our programme of meetings and visits Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

The SLS offers many services to members including the regular society magazine ( the Journal) an Internet Forum and also a range of meetings. There are two types of meeting and events. Our Centres run a series of indoor meetings at regular venues over the Autumn, Winter, and Spring periods.This regular, winter series, of meetings is also generally open to guests and non-members. Where this is not the case it is stated in the Centre's listing. The Society has several Centres, local branches, around the country from Scotland to the south of England, These have a regular programme of meetings for members including indoor based illustrated talks of a variety of railway topics both home and overseas and outdoor trips in the summer months. Other meetings are occasionally held on an as required basis in Central London, Leicester, Bristol, Swindon and Weymouth.

Saturday and midweek meeting dates Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Most of the winter indoor series meetings are arranged on weekday evenings. However it is appreciated that returning home late into the evening can be a problem for those members residing some distance away from their nearest centre base. Therefore we would like to draw your attention the fact that the Midland Centre, based in Kidderminster and the North Western Centre in Manchester do offer the opportunity to attend regular Saturday afternoon meetings for those able, and prepared, to travel longer distances at the weekend. The Severn Valley Railway's Kidderminster Station Museum is home to the Midland Centre's meetings (see Venue map). Access by main line rail (Central Trains) to the adjacent station is good as is road access. There is ample, relatively inexpensive, parking and catering is available from a choice of two SVR facilities. The Manchester meetings are held in the City Centre and the opportunity to travel by train to the meetings from a wide area of the North exists. The venue is very central and close to both Albert and St Peter's Squares. (See Venue map) Both these Centres therfore provide the opportunity for members from a wide area the opportunity to travel to an event without being forced into the necessity of a very late return home time. Although we do not currently promote Kidderminster as a national SLS Centre as a consequence of having such a physically central geographical location, it does go a long way towards offering members from an extremely large catchment area, far larger than the obvious Birmingham/Midlands area, a Centre base that is accessible.

Rail charters

Although chartered main line rail excursions, the classic "SLS Special's" of the end of steam era, are no longer run, a range of one-off' trips and visits remains in our summer programme.

As you can see from the photograph to the left , which was taken inmmediately after a party of SLS Members had travelled over the Severn Valley Railway during the 2005 AGM weekend, rail based trips are still organised.

During the 2007 summer season such rail borne trips included runs over the Great Central Railway, Severn Valley Railway and Weardale Railway.

Photo © John New / SLS 2005.

Perpetual Calendar - Meetings venue page / centre details

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Policy change - Regrettably experience over time has proved that maintaining duplicated calendars (By centre and here in date order) and a separate meetings pagte is extremely time-consuming and therefore summer visit dates and winter indoor meeting dates will in future only be added to this page. All necessary contact information regarding the centres, contact details, venue maps etc., is availble on our Meeting Centres page with hot links to each centre included with the event information below. As webmaster I applogise for this apparent reduced level of service but by removing the duplication the process of keeping the site date information both current and accurate will be much simplified and therefore benefit all site visitors. John New 26 May 2010.

Page updated to 28th December 2011. Details below verified correct.

January (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

4 Jan - Bromley - “Swanning around – the London rail-scene 1987-1993” a presentation by Jeremy Harrison.

5 Jan – Kendal - Gordon Biddle: SIR WILLIAM TITE & THE LANCASTER & CARLISLE RAILWAY (NB B/f from April & Alan Hart: LOCAL STEAM AT ITS PEAK swapped to April). Kendal/South Lakeland meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

6 Jan - Middlesbrough - ~~“Miniature Railways – 1860 to the present” Derek Humphreys~~ (Moved and now 14th February - Yarm) Replaced by “Gresley in the North East corner” Chris Nettleton (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

6 Jan - Newcastle -Travels in the ‘perilous’ realms – preserved railways in the south of England. - George Falkner

9 Jan - Ayrshire - Swiss Railway Scenes in the 1960s. Allan M. Fullerton

11 Jan - Guildford - Steam in Rhodesia. Ian Wright

14 JAN - Kidderminster - Members' presentations. (Midlands meetings list - pdf)

17 Jan - Yarm - ”Ride the Silverton” Ted Parker (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

19 Jan - New Barnet - late amendment - ~~Geoff Burton speaking on the Great Central~~ will be replaced by Mark Allatt speaking on the A1 Trust and the locomotive Tornado.

20 Jan - Newcastle -Scrapped or survived – pre-grouping locomotives after 1923 - David Stewart-David

21 Jan - Manchester - Area Annual General Meeting followed by:- "Down the American Road? Industrial Research on the LMS, 1923-1947” Professor Colin Divall Manchester meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

28/29 Jan - Meet the society at the Kendal Model Railway Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday 28th and 29th January 2012.

February (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

1 Feb - Bromley - “Two inches over and two inches under” a presentation on mountain railways by Ray Schofield.

2 Feb– Kendal - MEMBERS’ EVENING Kendal/South Lakeland meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

3 Feb - Middlesbrough - “NYMR 175 and Onwards” Phillip Benham (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

3 Feb - Newcastle -Tyneside electrics part 3 – BR period and decline of the service, accidents and mishaps 1904 - 1967 and miscellanies. Bill Donald - Newcastle meetings list as a pdf

8 Feb - Guildford - Members' evening

11 FEB - Kidderminster - Midlands Area AGM with supporting items if time premits. (Midlands meetings list - pdf)

13 Feb - Ayrshire - The work of the Railway Heritage Trust. Andrew Savage

14 Feb - Yarm - ~~“Gresley in the North East corner” Chris Nettleton~~ (moved & now 6th Jan - Middlesbrough) replaced by “Miniature Railways – 1860 to the present” Derek Humphreys (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

16 Feb - New Barnet - More travels with Bill Davies

17 Feb - Newcastle - Centre annual general meeting and members’ evening. Agenda items and offers of contributions for members’ evening to centre secretary by Friday 3 rd February please.

18 Feb - Manchester - “The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway – Then & Now” Bob Barnard Manchester meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

29 Feb - Newcastle - joint meeting with the Newcomen Society starting at 1400 in the Education Room (adjacent to reception) at the Discovery Museum, Blandford Square. Thomas Elliot Harrison (1808 – 1888) an exemplary Victorian civil engineer Bill Fawcett

March (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Page updated to 28th December 2011 - Dates, where shown, are advance for 2012

1 March – Kendal - Tom Heavyside: ON NARROW GAUGE TRACKS. Kendal/South Lakeland meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

2 Mar - Middlesbrough - Centre AGM & Members Slide Evening (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

2 Mar - Newcastle - KINGMAN CANYON – USA RAILROADING IN ARIZONA David Fraser - Newcastle meetings list as a pdf

3/4 Mar - Meet the society at the Preston Model Railway Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday 3rd and 4th March 2012.

7 Mar - Bromley - Title of talk is 'Locomotives of Australia' (NB speaker name still TBA despite a request for the same - SLS Web admin team).

10 - MAR - Kidderminster - Brian Jackson, 'Railways of Swanage'. (Midlands meetings list - pdf)

12 Mar - Ayrshire - A photographer's view of the UK privatised railway. Arthur J Wilson

13 Mar - Teesside Centre 50th Anniversary Event - Middlesbrough Municipal Golf Course Club House, Ladgate Lane from 6.30pm “NRM – Into the future” Steve Davies NRM Director (Includes Celebration buffet !)

14 Mar - Guildford - Steam in Turkey. Edward Talbot

15 Mar - New Barnet - (Title of talk amended) ~~Was Trains to the University City of Cambridge presented by Keith Greenwood~~ now Pictures From the Society's Photographic Collection presented by Keith Greenwood

16 Mar - Newcastle -Railways & remembrance – an examination of the railways’ role during the great war and the ways in which they remembered their fallen employees. Ian McInnes - Newcastle meetings list as a pdf

17 Mar - Manchester -"Rhapsody in Blue – The Great Northern Railway of Ireland" Ken Grainger Manchester meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

30 Mar - Newcastle - MINOR RAILWAYS OF NORTHERN NORTHUMBERLAND: THE SOUTH WEST AREA. Roger Jermy TBC

April (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Page updated to 28th December 2011 - Dates are 2011

Apr - Middlesbrough - No meeting due to Bank Holiday

7/8/9 APR - Meet the society at the York Model Railway Show 7th - 8th - 9th April 2012

4 Apr - Bromley - “Scottish steam in the 50’s and 60’s” a presentation by David Kelso.

9 Apr - Ayrshire - Centre AGM and members night.

11 Apr - Guildford - Southern main line steam. Neil Kearnes.

12 April – Kendal - Alan Hart: LOCAL STEAM AT ITS PEAK. ~~(Gordon Biddle: SIR WILLIAM TITE & THE LANCASTER & CARLISLE RAILWAY.~~ Now January) Kendal/South Lakeland meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

14 - APR - - Kidderminster - Mike Horne: 'Project 5AT, Steam Locomotive of the Future'. (5AT is a proposed 4-6-0 tender locomotive embodying all the recent collective wisdom of steam locomotive engineers. It has a website: http://www.5at.co.uk/ - (Midlands meetings list - pdf)

17 Apr - Yarm - “The Glorious Years – Central Britain” Martin Green (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

19 Apr - New Barnet - The North Norfolk and the Mid Suffolk Railways presented by John Durrant

20 Apr - Newcastle -Trainspotting 1955 – 1958 - Les Turnbull - Newcastle meetings list as a pdf

May (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Page updated to 28th December 2011 - Dates, where shown, are advance for 2012

4 May - Middlesbrough - “Hush-Hush ~ The Sequel” William Brown (Teesside meetings list - pdf)

4 May - Newcastle - SOME MID-70’S WANDERINGS - David Sharp - - Newcastle meetings list as a pdf

12 May - ~~Kidderminster~~ - 'The Kinver Light Railway' - Dr Paul Collins (This replaces the 19th May meeting which has been postponed)

12 May – Kendal - SATURDAY – Walk and outside visit. Kendal/South Lakeland meetings list - pdf | NW Area combined meetings list.pdf

~~19 MAY - Kidderminster - The Darjeeling Railway. David Barrie.~~ Postponed to October 2012

.June (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Page updated to 28th December 2011 - Dates, where shown, are advance for 2012

2 - 10 Jun Meet the society at the Railfest, National Rly Museum York, 2 - 10 June 2012 (Provisional at this stage)

July (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)

Page updated to 22nd September 2011 - Dates, where shown, are advance for 2012

No 2012 dates yet announced.

August (back to pick table) - Meetings venue page (Includes Centre map & contact details)