Scottish Railway History Conference - 3rd October 2026

The theme this year is "Railway People"

Six presentations describing individuals and organisations who have contributed to the development and running of the railway – some familiar, others who have not previously been recorded.

The conference takes place in the excellent facilities of the Souter Theatre at the AK Bell Library and costs £30 per person, which includes refreshments and a light lunch.

This opportunity is brought to you by the five Scottish Line Societies and the Museum of Scottish Railways

Further details and online booking can be found HERE

Scottish Traders' Wagons - Volume Three: History and Traders N to Z

Over 50,000 traders’ wagons were registered by the Scottish railway companies post-1889, and many more built prior to registration remained in traffic into the 20th Century. In this and two accompanying volumes an attempt has been made to identify every Scottish user of traders’ wagons in the period c1845 to 1948. The latest publication from Lightmoor Press will be of interest to Caledonian Railway Association members.

We have purchased a supply of the books at a discounted and price and will offer our usual member discount alongside the public sale.

£40.00

Scottish Traders' Wagons - Volume Two: History and Traders E to M

Over 50,000 traders’ wagons were registered by the Scottish railway companies post-1889, and many more built prior to registration remained in traffic into the 20th Century. In this and two accompanying volumes an attempt has been made to identify every Scottish user of traders’ wagons in the period c1845 to 1948.

The latest publication from Lightmoor Press will be of interest to Caledonian Railway Association members. We have purchased a supply of the books at a discounted and price and will offer our usual member discount alongside the public sale.

£40.00

Scottish Traders' Wagons - Volume One: History and Traders A to D

Over 50,000 traders’ wagons were registered by the Scottish railway companies post-1889, and many more built prior to registration remained in traffic into the 20th Century. In this and two forthcoming volumes an attempt has been made to identify every Scottish user of traders’ wagons in the period c1845 to 1948.

The latest publication from Lightmoor Press will be of interest to Caledonian Railway Association members. We have purchased a supply of the books at a discounted and price and will offer our usual member discount alongside the public sale.

£40.00

Archive Catalogue

The Catalogue of the delights in our Archives has in the past usually been published twice a year, but the intention for 2025 onwards is to amend the catalogue on the Association website currently as any new acquisitions become available for research. It can be accessed on-line by clicking on “Archives” in the headings across our Home page. At the year end, it will be made available in pdf form, and the December 2024 edition may now be downloaded here

Some new arrivals are shown below:

CRA6/2/19

Bishopton Station -  CR drawings of Up Platform buildings.

?1840

CRA6/4/8

Glasgow Central, Clyde Bridge and Signalbox - lengthy drawing of entire west elevation, possibly prepared for Matheson's lecture to Institution of Civil Engineers. Fragile

?1908

CRA8/2/16

 Edinburgh Morrison St. Mineral Yard and environs - Ordnance Survey Map  (shows Haymarket station when still with only two through lines and one tunnel)

1895

CRA2/2/1/1/7

Conveyance of Manure for Glasgow. Extracts from Acts

1865,1882, and 1887

Still being processed is an exceptional collection of 12 original Scottish Central drawings of its bridges and structures. A way has been found to digitise these, and they should appear in due course for download by members on our webshop.

Physical visits to our Archives,  held on our behalf by the Glasgow University Archive and Special Collections at congenial Thurso Street, Glasgow, are always rewarding, but need to be booked in advance. Bookings can be made via: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections/bookanappointment/  and choosing the Thurso Street section.   If you want to make special arrangements to combine with holidays or travel, then discuss requirements via library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk   

Three Generations on Scotland's Railway

Another publication from the Association, in association with the North British Railway Study Group, Three Generations on Scotland's Railway is now available to purchase.

This is the story of grandfather, father and son who worked and lived on the railway during much of the twentieth century, and records the changes over those years. It does, however, much more, for it is a social history of life in those times, which spanned two world wars.

£13.00

Caledonian Railway Staff List - updated April 2026

The latest version of the  database listing any Caledonian Railway staff identified through research has now been uploaded to the website - now containing over 39,290 entries.

This is another significant increase from the 38,950 records in the version uploaded in January 2025, and is driven by further research from the valuation rolls.   Previously we had used these to identify the Station Master living at stations but this further research identified that the Caledonian Railway owned considerable rentable property, which is quite extensive in places such as Motherwell, Carstairs, Coatbridge, etc. including all Railway trades as well as Drivers and Fireman and Guards.  This chance discovery has resulted in a significant number of additional entries to our list - which can downloaded from the Staff Records page.

The Valuation Rolls can be found on the Scotland's People website - enter "Caledonian Railway" in Valuation Rolls to list all the Property owned by the Company.

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