The Library

The library is a comprehensive collection of books and periodicals about railways and the hobby. There is a collection of about 5000 books and it includes all the major journals. The library possesses a substantial video collection on subjects as varied as American backwoods railways to modern continental practice. The books and bound magazines are available to the members to borrow. The substantial reference section contains a some fairly rare books, including photographs of the building of the Midland mainline into St Pancras used as the basis for a now retired layout, Chiltern Green.

Books:

Contains important works on railway development in Britain and includes titles on overseas railways, particularly in the USA, Canada, Europe, the Near and Far East, India and Australasia. It also includes books on the development of railway modelling and the techniques for model making, covering not only locomotives and rolling stock, but also electrical systems, baseboards, buildings, landscaping and the human generated 'clutter'.

Periodicals:

These cover

a. Financial and technical aspects of the railway industry

b. The activities of railway study groups and specialist model railway societies

c. General railway interest

d. Model railways

Archive Collection:

Consists largely of material concerning the development of railways, including accident reports, drawings and diagram books of the British main lines. Timetables, photo albums, past exhibition guides and catalogues of traders are available for review.

See the rediscovered (!) photos of Kings Cross and others. Also the Inaugural Meeting of The Club.

Video Collection

Mirrors the book collection and contains material on the UK, Europe and North America.

The library may be used by outside organisations by prior arrangement. Please contact the Senior Librarian, Andrew Jones.