Early years
The Pennine Railway Society was formed by a group of enthusiasts from across South Yorkshire in 1974. Meetings took place regularly in the Prince of Wales public house, opposite Rotherham Masborough Station.
From its formation the Society has enjoyed railways to the full. The early years were spent on trips around British Rail depots, workshops and installations. On all our trips we managed free time where members could mix in a local hostelry and sample the beers and local customs.
Depot visits were very popular, sometimes with many trips to several installations in one area of the country. These included Tyneside, Merseyside, London, Birmingham, South Wales and Scotland. This picture is from a trip to Old Oak Common in 1981.
The most popular trips were undoubtedly the Merrymaker Excursions which sadly no longer operate. We often arranged visits to installations close to the destination. It would not be unusual to take upward of 30 members on these trips. They included overnighters to such beautiful places as Fort William, Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh. Numerous visits were also organised taking in the scenic and historic Settle and Carlisle route.
Trips were arranged to workshops at Doncaster, Eastleigh, Crewe, Derby, Horwich, Swindon, Cowlairs, Wolverton. They were run time and again over the years when these sites were in full production. This picture is from a Doncaster Works visit in 1981.
Specialised visits have been organised for small groups including power signal boxes and control rooms. One visit included the Waterloo and City Line and another Acton Bus Works.
Sadly, in recent years with the radical changes in railway organisation and the advent of stringent Health and Safety Regulations, opportunities to visit rail installations have been severely curtailed.
Over the years we have reached many milestones. Here we are celebrating our 10th anniversary on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. We also celebrated our 20th anniversary on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, our 25th and 30th anniversaries on the Midland Railway at Butterley, our 40th anniversary on Peak Rail and our 45th anniversary on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Our Magazine
In the first ten years the Society established a regular magazine called TRANS PENNINE and published it four times a year, free to members. The magazine has continued in production, with a number of members taking on the editor role along the way.
Social Evenings
The Society has also held regular evening meetings in Doncaster. Invited guests as well as members provide excellent evenings in the form of slide shows and film shows, ranging from the old black and white days right up to date.
Meetings were first held at the Masons Arms in Doncaster Market Place and went from strength to strength. The Society moved to the Corporation Brewery Taps in June 1981. The move proved extremely popular with the membership, to the extent that we expanded from one meeting per month to two in January 1982. We remained there until May 1999 when a major refurbishment by the brewery resulted in the loss of the function room. We then moved to the Salutation with its excellent surroundings and facilities. The room at 'The Sal' was converted into a restaurant late in 2016 leading to our move to Club 39 in the Waterdale Centre where we stayed until early 2019. Unfortunately Club 39 did not reopen after the Covid-19 closures which led to our move to the current venue, Doncaster Town Fields Sports Club.
The social evenings incorporated an annual slide competition, judged by the membership. Once digital cameras became popular we also introduced a digital image competition.
The Pennine Shield was introduced as an annual quiz competition held at the end of every year. The competition saw a Pennine team test their railway knowledge against teams from other South Yorkshire railway societies. Although there are fewer societies now we continue to hold the annual quiz. This picture is from the 1990s when a Pennine team won the shield.
Open Days
In those early years we ran a full stall at many depot open days, selling new and second-hand railway books, timetables and slide collections. Sales stands have been held at Doncaster, Stratford, Norwich, Tinsley, Old Oak Common, York, Derby and Barrow Hill, along with events at preserved railway sites. These were excellent days out for club members with many taking part in staffing the stall.
Later years
The membership reached a peak of over 150 in the early 1980s when we were running regular depot trips. When the BR Merrymakers ceased and the availability of visits to locations ceased the Society reinvented itself.
The Society concentrated on delivering social evenings which went from strength to strength, and the odd trip to preserved railways and displays at open days and libraries, such as in 2003 to celebrate the Plant 150th anniversary. For many years now we have enjoyed an evening visit to Barrow Hill Roundhouse in June.
The membership over the past 10 years has remained consistent at around 75 members.
Throughout its existence the Society has been run by a committee on behalf of the membership.