Scottish Railway Preservation Society

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The society was formed in 1961, and it has been actively collecting and displaying railway artifacts of Scottish significance ever since. The society's headquarters is at Bo'ness, in central Scotland.

Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway based 27001 standing in front of the C&W building at Bo'ness

Overview

The society is a member of Museums Galleries Scotland (as an Accredited Museum) and of the Heritage Railway Association (as a railway operator). It is managed and operated by volunteers (over 300 out of a membership in excess of 1,000).

The society undertakes conservation, restoration, repair, maintenance, and (where appropriate) demonstration operation of railway artifacts ranging from small objects to carriages, wagons and locomotives. It is also active in educational and curatorial activities including research, interpretation and outreach.

Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway

The society operates the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, on which the historic collection is demonstrated in action, on Saturdays and Sundays from Easter until the end of October, and daily in July and August (intending visitors should check the website for details).

Museum of Scottish Railways

Adjacent to Bo'ness station, the society operates the Museum of Scottish Railways (open 7 days a week throughout the summer months), in which the collection is on show. Illustrated displays set out the history of railway construction and operation in Scotland, and restoration activities can be seen in the adjoining workshop. The society has a specially comprehensive collection of signal and telegraph apparatus. Some of this is on display, along with a hands-on demonstration of safety interlocking.

SRPS Railtours

A subsidiary company, SRPS Railtours, operates excursion trains on the main line.These excursion trains are mostly operated within or originating from Scotland. SRPS Railtours uses carriages from the SRPS's large fleet of preserved carriages (currently consisting of Mark 1s and a Mark 2 based at Bo'ness) for its excursions. Since 1970, these trains have travelled over the railway network as far as Wick and Penzance and frequently travel over the scenic West Highland Line and Kyle of Lochalsh Line. The trains are crewed by drivers, guards and sometimes firemen from a train operating company, for example West Coast Railways or DB Cargo UK, with SRPS members working as volunteer stewards and catering staff.

Preserved vehicles

There are over 250 vehicles at Bo'ness, of which 150 are accessioned to the museum collection and are owned by the Scottish Railway Museum Collections Trust.

Steam locomotives

The oldest steam locomotive is a Neilson-built locomotive of 1876. Other items include North British Railway C Class 0-6-0 locomotive No. 673 "Maude" (currently in the Scottish Railway Exhibition awaiting restoration) and Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No. 419.

Diesel locomotives

Diesel locomotives include examples of most of the main types which were introduced in Scotland by the British Railways Modernisation Plan.

Multiple units

Also on site are a Swindon Works-built Class 126 Inter-City Diesel Multiple Unit and a Class 303 "Blue Train" Electric Multiple Unit.

Carriage and wagon

The carriage collection is made up of 67 in total, including 15 built in or before 1923, six LNER coaches and five to LMS designs. The wagon collection numbers 89 vehicles, and demonstrates the range of traffic that the railways carried.

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