Railway Societies in Profile – No.1 The Branch Line Society

The Branch Line Society (BLS) is a national UK-based, entirely voluntary, association for railway enthusiasts with a membership of almost 2,000 - some scattered throughout the World. It was established in 1955 and is widely recognised as Britain's leading amateur group for the study of past, present and proposed railway infrastructure and the history of networks (nowadays, despite its title, not just minor lines). The Society pursues its aims by providing a regular news service, by organising mainline, heritage and private railtours as well as visits, and the production and distribution of publications. There are occasional indoor meetings and fixtures include guided trackbed walks, signal box visits and we once even visited a girls' boarding school … (with railway connections, of course!).

The Society works regularly with its operating partners, including Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies, to promote the good causes that they support. Most years, our joint operations have raised over £150,000 for charities and other deserving groups. The Society is currently hard at work to redesign these events to meet current Social Distancing requirements.

Our emphasis is on the physical infrastructure and operating arrangements, rather than motive power and rolling stock. The BLS records matters of railway history accurately for archive purposes as historical records, available online to members.

Members receive 24 electronic or paper newsletters (Branch Line News or BLN) per year - British Isles and International versions are also available. They also receive priority information, booking preference on Society events, lower fares, some sales discounts, and two invaluable annual printed publications: • "Minor Railways" by Peter Scott – listing all operating public railways in the UK of 7¼" gauge and above by area, showing location, track layout and length of the railway, limited contact details and known operating dates where not regularly open to the public.

• "Passenger Train Services Over Unusual

Lines" by Richard Maund (also available online, regularly updated) – details of sections of railway with services not easily identified in timetables.

Most services are available (including card payments) through http://www.branchline. uk - the Society's website. This includes membership, fixtures and online searchable access to all 65 years of BLNs, with indexes and other archived documents; an invaluable resource for railway research. Membership costs as little as £12 per year, recovered by joining just one of our mainline rail tours that offer a discounted price to members! Some fixtures are 'members only', such as our brakevan trips round Scunthorpe Steelworks to sections not normally seen on public tours.

Our railtours and other fixtures visit every part of the UK and Ireland as well as European and Middle Eastern countries. The legacy of the GWR is not neglected. 2019 saw 'The Looe Brush' tour from Bristol Temple Meads to the Moorswater and Looe branches. The connection from the mainline at Liskeard on to the Looe branch has been something of a holy grail for track enthusiasts for decades. The passenger services between Liskeard and Looe always start and finish at Liskeard platform 3, quite separate from the rest of the station (in fact at right angles to it).

However, meticulous planning and the forging of excellent working relationships with rail industry partners by BLS Fixtures Secretary Kev Adlam, led to success at last for our special train. As well as running to the end of the line at Looe, our train also traversed the freight only Moorswater Branch from Coombe Junction into its Cement terminal (due to close shortly) before returning to the mainline at Liskeard, with a second run over that coveted connection. Other highlights were a visit into Laira depot (on the train) in Plymouth and via the mainline connection to the South Devon Railway and from Totnes to Buckfastleigh. This tour also raised over £10,000 for charity.

The most recent example of a BLS railtour venturing onto GWR metals was 'The Devonian Crompton' in March 2020. This was the second of three consecutive days of railtours raising money for the Help for Heroes and Tommy's charities. Starting at London Victoria and ending at Waterloo the train, hauled by a pair of ex-BR Class 33 diesels, ran to Crediton on the Barnstaple branch, out via the Southern route via Salisbury, Yeovil and Axminster and back on the Great Western via Taunton, Bristol Temple Meads, Bath, Westbury, Warminster and Salisbury.

Late 2019 saw 'The Birmingham Balti Bash' railtour with Class 20s over a convoluted route, including freight only track and loops, around the West Midlands from Solihull to Warwick, Tyseley through siding, Bordesley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Oxley, Telford Railfreight terminal (Donnington), Shrewsbury, Stourbridge, Snow Hill, Moor Street and Small Heath Goods, amongst many others. Participants enjoyed a complimentary curry!

Other fixtures of interest to students of the Great Western Railway in 2019 included signal box visits in the Shrewsbury and South Wales areas and a Devon service train tracker, an organised group on service trains to travel over all the main lines and branches in that county. There were well over 50 tours etc in 2019.

Although 2020 ended with fewer tours, 2021 promises to be one of the Society's best years yet, with a number of exciting projects already in the planning stages, subject of course to the on-going COVID-19 situation, which thankfully does appear to be improving.

Branch Line News has regional sections with numerous interesting items from the latest news on the railway network to items of historic research and shared recollections from the past. The emphasis is on things you don't see in other publications - the paper version typically has 36 pages, some 140 items, and the electronic version runs to around 100 pages, with many colour photos. All in all, joining the Branch Line Society could be the best £12 you spend. Go to http://www.branchline.uk NOW