Promoting Railway Clubs and Societies

[RichardGB]

A few words about supporting our railway clubs and societies, some of which have suffered as a consequence of the covid lockdown. Indeed I'm told by various club organisers that some local clubs may never re-open.

I'm involved with, the 'Railway Club Directory' (RCD) which is an altruist project dedicated solely to promoting traditional railway clubs and historical railway societies. This means:
(1) National railway clubs (like RCTS, LCGB and SLS);
(2) Specialised national railway societies (like the Industrial Railway Society and Narrow Gauge Railway Society);
(3) Historical 'line' societies (like the Great Central Railway Society, the North Eastern Railway Association and the Midland Railway Society), and
(4) Local railway clubs (of which there are over 60 throughout the country.

Preservation groups and model railway clubs are not included, as they are very well provided for elsewhere. However there are over 100 'traditional clubs' as defined above. Over 60 of them are already part of the RCD project, with the remainder going through consideration processes.

The RCD is doing three things.

Firstly, its publishing a printed railway club directory, a book entitled 'National Railway Society Directory', which includes entries of all 100 plus railway clubs and societies within its scope, with full particulars given about them over around 200 pages, including how to join them.

Secondly its creating a dedicated website to promote traditional railway clubs and historical railway societies. That is a work in progress.

The third is a social media presence. At the moment this comprises a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/railwayclubdirectory ) which has just launched, but will expand into other media.

The overall aim is to promote railway clubs and societies, in particular to generate interest in them and increase their membership.

If you'd like to know more, please visit the RCD Facebook page mentioned above.

And please consider joining a club. They provide many benefits of membership (many for £20 or less a year membership fee). Most publish very high quality journals, and many local clubs hold regular 'railway presentation' style meetings serving their local community. The latter in particular need support.

Richard Bowry

 

[telstarbox]

Good luck with it. If I can offer two pieces of unsolicited advice to your members:

Have some sort of online presence. You don't need to be on every social media platform but ideally have a few photos, add 'news' at least once a quarter, and make sure it works on smartphones.

Accept online payments for memberships etc. A lot of people don't have chequebooks any more

 

[PeterC]

I will second what telstarbox said about online payments. There are a number of PAYG services that handle online acceptance of cards, and all that I have checked out are cheaper than PayPal.

On the subject of directories I have been involved with specialist music listings both online as a webmaster and in print as a magazine editor. With any directory project the internet makes it tempting to make the listings user maintainable. This does not work, after the first burst of enthusiasm people simply forget. Any directory needs to be rigourously curated in order to maintain credibility.

Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs there but I have seen too many directory projects simply fade away.

 

[75A]

A few words about supporting our railway clubs and societies, some of which have suffered as a consequence of the covid lockdown. Indeed I'm told by various club organisers that some local clubs may never re-open.

I'm involved with, the 'Railway Club Directory' (RCD) which is an altruist project dedicated solely to promoting traditional railway clubs and historical railway societies. This means:
(1) National railway clubs (like RCTS, LCGB and SLS);
(2) Specialised national railway societies (like the Industrial Railway Society and Narrow Gauge Railway Society);
(3) Historical 'line' societies (like the Great Central Railway Society, the North Eastern Railway Association and the Midland Railway Society), and
(4) Local railway clubs (of which there are over 60 throughout the country.

Preservation groups and model railway clubs are not included, as they are very well provided for elsewhere. However there are over 100 'traditional clubs' as defined above. Over 60 of them are already part of the RCD project, with the remainder going through consideration processes.

The RCD is doing three things.

Firstly, its publishing a printed railway club directory, a book entitled 'National Railway Society Directory', which includes entries of all 100 plus railway clubs and societies within its scope, with full particulars given about them over around 200 pages, including how to join them.

Secondly its creating a dedicated website to promote traditional railway clubs and historical railway societies. That is a work in progress.

The third is a social media presence. At the moment this comprises a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/railwayclubdirectory ) which has just launched, but will expand into other media.

The overall aim is to promote railway clubs and societies, in particular to generate interest in them and increase their membership.

If you'd like to know more, please visit the RCD Facebook page mentioned above.

And please consider joining a club. They provide many benefits of membership (many for £20 or less a year membership fee). Most publish very high quality journals, and many local clubs hold regular 'railway presentation' style meetings serving their local community. The latter in particular need support.

Richard Bowry

Any other way rather than Facebook?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Any other way rather than Facebook?

Yes, I don't do FB either

 

[Gloster]

I presume that you are going to include specialist subject societies, such as the Signalling Record Society, but where? And are you going to include UK societies covering non-UK subjects, such as the French Railways Society? And what about the Irish Railways Record Society, which is Dublin-based, but covers part of the UK?

 

[RichardGB]

Thank you for your comments.....all are gratefully received.

The FB page was set up first because it was a quicker process than designing a new website. However the dedicated website will follow.

Those not on FB, do you use other social media at all, twitter for example? If so, which ones?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I have written a Wikipedia article on Railway enthusiasts societies in the UK - does that count?

 

[75A]

Thank you for your comments.....all are gratefully received.

The FB page was set up first because it was a quicker process than designing a new website. However the dedicated website will follow.

Those not on FB, do you use other social media at all, twitter for example? If so, which ones?

Not me.

 

[telstarbox]

To pick one at random from your list, the NERA website is immediately welcoming and clear. Using Facebook etc is always a risk of creating a walled garden where you have to sign up to see the content, which deters casual interest.

 

[Gloster]

I am not on Facebook and if I am directed to it for any information I will not sign in if that is required, even if it means not obtaining the information. I feel that if somebody wants information to be freely available, then it should not be necessary to join some sort of ‘club’. Particularly one they have no control over.

 

[greatkingrat]

Anyone can view the site whether you have a Facebook account or not. You would only need to sign in if you wanted to comment on a post.

 

[GRichard]

To Gloster, yes, section 2 of the directory contains specialist national societies, and yes, the Signalling Record Society is included.

The scope of the RCD is something that was given careful consideration. In the end it was decided that its scope should relate to UK societies covering UK railway interests. Accordingly UK societies covering non-UK railways are not included. Your reference to the Irish Railways Record Society is very interesting. This is one which has not been included, but does fall in scope (at least partially). This will be looked into. Thanks for raising this.

To telstarbox, yes, the NERA website is very good, as indeed are the websites of many of the included societies. Part of the aim of the RCD is to direct interested persons to the websites of societies they may be interested in. I absolutely get that Facebook is not for everyone and has its limitations in that regard. The dedicated website is the answer to that one, it just takes a little time to get it up and running.

The RCD Facebook page is indeed free to access by anyone, without having to be signed up to Facebook. As said, the dedicated RCD website will supplement the Facebook page once up and running, and will suit those who don't like FB.

Please note that no-one needs to join anything to access any information. Everything is free to access and there is no 'joining' as regards RCD. The only 'clubs' involved are the railway societies themselves. The RCD is a directory of clubs, but is not a club itself.

 

[telstarbox]

That could change in the future though. Instagram already requires you to sign in to see most content. With a website you're in control.

 

[squizzler]

Those not on FB, do you use other social media at all, twitter for example? If so, which ones?

There might be other website builders that do what you want to do better, I think many also be configured to feed news updates into other social media channels that you might have.

I think Discord is one of the best social media/messaging services, and a channel on this service might compliment a website quite well.

 

[mdewell]

Anyone interested in this might also like to have a look at the Historical Model Railway Society website at https://hmrs.org.uk
Their website includes comprehensive links pages.

 

[GRichard]

Many thanks for your comments. Yes, HMRS is an interesting club as its actually involved in far more than railway modelling, despite its name. The links page is good and quite wide ranging.

The RCD is something quite different of course. It is not a list of clubs with some basic points and a link. The information provided by RCD on each club is quite extensive. The entries are all approved by the clubs themselves and contain a considerable amount of detail.

The RCD is more than a simple directory, but rather comprises a number of elements, (i) a printed detailed directory running into about 200 pages, (ii) a dedicated website (in design progress), and (iii) a dedicated social media presence.

As to Discord, its very interesting, although is probably more complex than the RCD website needs to be.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I have written a Wikipedia article on Railway enthusiasts societies in the UK - does that count?

Please feel free to edit.

Railway enthusiasts societies in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

 

[yorkie]

Those not on FB, do you use other social media at all, twitter for example? If so, which ones?

I suspect there are a significant number of members here who aren't active on other forms of social media.

If any society wishes to discuss the possibility of having an online presence through this forum, they are welcome to contact us

 

[75A]

Please feel free to edit.

Railway enthusiasts societies in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

Well done & Thank You.

 

[Roose]

Those not on FB, do you use other social media at all, twitter for example? If so, which ones?

Twitter is widely used and good for snippets of news and directing users to your website for further details, when appropriate.

You can allow/disallow responses to each individual post, as you wish.