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The CRC meets at St.Paul’s Church Centre, Rossmore Road, Marylebone, London NW1 6NJ. This is an attractive hall which offers a comfortable environment for our meetings. It is a short walk north from Marylebone station on the west side of the line. Rossmore Road crosses over the railway at the station throat. Bus routes 139 from Waterloo to West Hampstead and 189 from Brent Cross to Oxford Circus pass the door. It is outside the congestion charge zone and parking is free after 18.30 on both single yellow lines and meters.
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month except August - doors open 18.30 for 19.15 start, and there is a small admission charge to cover the cost of hiring the hall: light refreshments are on sale from 18.30 and during the interval. A selection of new and second-hand railway books is also on sale.
The June 2011 meeting started with a short ‘Boardroom’ session during which the finances of the London meetings were reviewed and the future programme was outlined (see minutes). Although the cover price of the CRJ is being increased, prices of season tickets, which include copies of the CRJ, are once again being held for 2011/12. At £22 by post or £20 for collection these are now even more outstanding value for 4 copies of the magazine and 11 meetings featuring a variety of foreign railways.
10th May saw James Waite presenting ‘Narrow Gauge the World Over - Steam in the 21st Century’. Although a long standing member of the CRC this is the first time that James has done a show at St.Paul’s. In a digital presention of just over 250 ‘slides’ James took us on a wide-ranging tour featuring most countries where steam can still be found. Inevitably preserved steam is now predominant but with some glimpses of real steam in places such as the Philippines. Backed up by an excellent commentary this was a really excellent show. Thank you James!
Next month, on 14th June, our program starts with our brief annual ‘Boardroom Session’ followed by another digital presentation, this time from Richard Tremaine ‘Japan from early steam to Shinkansen’.
Our programme continues with our annual narrow-gauge visit -
Thursday 28th June Afternoon visit to the Bredgar & Wormshill Railway near Sittingbourne. Our last visit in 2010 was very successful and bookings are coming in well, so we are planning to request a second engine in steam - book now!
Then our final meeting of the season before our August break -
Thursday 12th July Mike Bunn A Digital Tour de France by Narrow Gauge
2012 – 2013
Thursday 13th September – Those were the days
Hugh Ballantyne – Germany and France in the 60’s (60 min)
John Batts – China 1976 (30min)
Chris Capewell – Finland (30min)
Thursday 11th October Martin Robinson – Chris Gammell collection revisited in Europe
Thursday 8th November Nick Lera – Steam to the Arctic Circle A DVD presentation
Thursday 13th December Brian Garvin – Back to the USSR
Thursday 10th January Les Nixon – Around the World in 80 minutes
Thursday 14th February Brian May – Romania
Thursday 14th March Keith Robinson – India “Assam to Kerala - Steam on 4 gauges”
Thursday 11th April Tony Bowles – Narrow Gauge Railways in North & North Western Spain
Thursday 9th May TBA
Thursday 13th June TBA
Thursday 11th July TBA
2013 - 2014
Thursday 12th September Ted Talbot – Steam in Southern Africa
Thursday 10th October Peter Lemmey – Steam in Southeast Europe – Includes Austria, Yugoslavia and Romania
The programme for 2012/3 is being prepared and offers of presentations are very welcome: anyone wishing to help is invited to contact Adrian Palmer (Email akpalmer@talktalk.net) who normally hosts the London meetings. Presentations can be for the whole meeting but shorter items are also just as welcome: note that the ‘Those Were The Days’ format of 20 or 30 minute features is being revived in September 2012.
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