Welcome to the Railway Studies Friends

About Us

DC Rail Class 60 60 029 at Buckfastleigh Station on South Devon Diesel Gala Day November 2024.
© DG Walker.

Established in 1991 the Friends support the Collection by various means including volunteering for Saturday opening hours, fund raising for the purchase of new titles for the Collection or giving specialist advice on the many unidentified photographs and slides held by the Collection and compiling a database of the Collection’s photographs.

The Friends also hold a series of talks /slide shows throughout the year, details of which are in the News Section of this web site.

Membership of the Friends costs £10 per annum and membership details are available from:

The Secretary, G. Walker, 68 Mile End Road, Newton Abbot TQ12 1RW.

The Railway Studies Collection accepts book donations and in the first instance the Railway Studies Catalogue will be checked to see if we already have the title. Any new titles will be added to the collection and duplicate books will be sold by the Friends. Any monies accumulated will then be available to support the Railway Studies Collection.

Private collections are often left to the Railway Studies Library and these are dealt with by the Railway Studies Librarian, with volunteers on hand to assist in sorting out such collections. If there are any duplicate titles these are donated to the Friends who then dispose of them and use the money raised to buy new titles for the Collection.

Friends of the Railway Studies Collection Meetings

V2 Class No. 60903 passes New Southgate with a Summer Saturdays only Kings Cross to Edinburgh service 20.08.1960
© Copyright Brian Bailey/Railway Studies

All meetings are held on the first floor of the Passmore Edwards Centre, Newton Abbot and start at 7pm.

All are welcome to attend. The Friends of the Railway Studies Collection have free entry; guests are also welcome and are invited to make a small donation of £2 which adds to the funds for the purchase of new books for the Collection.

All meeting are held in the Passmore Edwards Centre and commence at 7pm. All are welcome.

The programme for meetings is as follows :-

2025 Dates	Subject and speaker
18^th March	Swindon Works The Early Years – Rev Brian Arman.
15^th April	The Advanced Passenger Train From A Different Slant – Kit Spackman.
6^th May	AGM/photos From The Collection – Graham Walker.
17^th June	Talk to be decided.
16^th September	Model Railways A Hobby And A Business – John Polley.
21^st October	Diesel and Electrics on the Southern 1980’s to the present day – David Goodyear.
18^th November	History of the Stockton & Darlington Railway – David Macveigh.
17^th December	Quiz

Guests are welcome at any of our meetings and small fee of £2 per meeting is charged.

Opening Hours of the Railway Studies Collection

Nameplate Battle of Britain Class 34066 Spitfire displayed at Shepherd Neame Brewery Faversham
© DG Walker.

The Railway Studies Collection is in the refurbished Passmore Edwards Centre, Market Street, Newton Abbot and is located on the first floor and accessible by a lift and stairways. The Collection is open on:

Monday – Saturday: 9.00am - 4.00pm

The Libraries staff will be able to assist from Mondays to Saturdays with Railway Study enquires. At other times the Library staff will be able to assist with queries.

Railway Studies Collection users guide

For arrangement and classification of bookstock, library plan and general guidance, please review our user guide.

Photograph Collection

The Photograph Collection now numbers over 98,000 images. All the photos are listed on a database. If anyone is looking for a photograph please contact Graham Walker and he will undertake a search. Contact details for Graham are listed on this web site.

Slide Collection & Digitisation

7029 Clun Castle brings 1Z47, 15.47 Bristol Temple Meads to Plymouth railtour, through Newton Abbot on the 10th May 2024. © Chris Brown.

Work continues on the slide collection. Several Colour Rail early slides have been identified and work has now started on some early Preserved Railways scenes. A batch of classic diesel locomotives has also been identified and await scanning. Together with a selection of industrial railway slides.

Ottley's Bibliography of British Railway History

The collection is arranged in line with Ottley's Bibliography of British Railway History.

Collection Details

The Collection opened in 1991 and is housed on the first floor of Passmore Edwards Centre which is a Grade 1 Listed Building. Newton Abbot was chosen because of the town's significance as a railway centre.

Newton Abbot has a main line station, and was the site of a large locomotive shed [Shed code 83A] engine repair works and carriage and wagon works.

All aspects of Britain's Railways are covered by the collection with material of interest to railway and social historians, writer's, modellers, researchers and those with a more general interest.

There is comprehensive material on West Country Railways from the Great Western and London South Western/Southern periods up to the present day. In addition there is a substantial amount of information on the remainder of the UK's railway network with limited coverage of railways in Ireland.

As well as providing information of all types on standard gauge railways, the Collection caters for other key areas of interest such as :-

Broad Gauge
Narrow gauge
Industrial Lines
Miniature railways
Underground railways
Preserved railways

This wealth of data is arranged according to a classification scheme based on that devised by George Ottley for his Bibliography of Railway History. A guide to this scheme is available in the Library.

Items in the Collection form part of the Devon Library Service catalogue. This available on their website:

Click here to view details of the Railway Studies Collection at the Passmore Edwards Centre, Newton Abbot.

The Railway Studies Collection contains:-