Allan visited the fledgling GWS at their Taplow base and became a member there in 1966 and has fond memories of driving 6106 up and down the yard. The move to Didcot came in November and December 1967 when stock was moved from Taplow, Taunton, Buckfastleigh, Ashchurch and Caerphilly. Shots of the first open day to be held at Didcot in 1969 showed that the site was still used by BR to store wagons. Although the centre is the original 1932 Didcot steam depot, BR removed the 65’ turntable when they vacated the site, and so with the help of MSC volunteers the pit was expanded to 70’ to take the acquired turntable from Southampton Docks.

Amongst the many open days held over the years the one in 1985 to celebrate GW150 gained several exhibits originally planned for the Swindon event, which was never held as BR announced the closure of the works shortly before event began. One such item was the Broad Gauge Iron Duke, which had the nasty habit of derailing at Didcot. The team became so proficient at re-railing the locomotive that they had cut the time taken from 2.5 hours when it first happened to 45 minutes!

As the number of exhibits expanded, more buildings were required. Allan told us how the contractors had to dig down 15’ to get sufficient footings for the carriage sheds, as it transpired that the GW had used the back area of the depot as their fly ash tip for the whole railway!

As well as the rail borne exhibits, Allan showed us many of the other artefacts that can be seen around the museum site, including a section of Brunel’s atmospheric railway, and a vacuum machine from Old Oak common that was used for brake testing carriages without the need for a locomotive. Allan also showed us all the station buildings and platforms that have been added over the years to make the operations what they are today.

Allan finished by showing us images of some of the major projects that Didcot are undertaking – recreating a GW Steam Rail Motor and building a new County.

Allan was really able to make the museum come alive for us, and for those who also visited Didcot in the Summer, this was a great start to the season and really appreciated by all present

Monday 11th August
Branch visit to Acton Depot - The reserve collection of London’s Transport Museum

A report and photographs from the visit is here

Sunday 29th June
Visit to Didcot Railway Centre

A detailed report with photographs is here

Monday 28th April
Branch AGM followed by Reminiscences of the Aire Valley Signal boxes
Malcolm Riley

At the first AGM of the Windsor and Maidenhead Branch held on 28th April, the Chairman Steve Ollive reviewed the progress made during a successful year and outlined the plans for expansion of the Branch’s activities in the coming year. The interim committee of Steve Ollive (Chairman), Alan Cooke (Secretary), Dave Goddard (Treasurer) and Martin Higgs were confirmed in office for the forthcoming year and despite appeals no volunteers came forward to help spread the load.

The second half of the evening had a lighter theme with the renowned Malcolm Riley giving us an illustrated talk on his ‘Reminiscences of the Aire Valley Signal boxes’. This is an account of Malcolm’s working life and covers the many changes he has seen from steam to diesel and electric, from nationalisation to privatisation and from very basic unheated working conditions to modern signalling centres. All told with a good slice of humour and a selection of pictures from the 1960s, to the present day, all depicting West Yorkshire scenes. An excellent finale to our first season.

Monday 25th February
West of the Rockies
John Day

Society Secretary John Day visited the Windsor and Maidenhead Branch on 25th February with his slide show entitled ‘West of the Rockies’, as far away from Maidenhead as could get. Although rail enthusiasts may complain about the difficulties in following their hobby in the UK, they have it easy compared with those in the USA where extremes of climate, mean wildlife like scorpions, rattlesnakes and mountain lions as well as railway employees that threaten to shoot railfans that trespass on to their yards make life much more difficult.

But John survived and brought back a wonderful selection of views of the western side of the USA and Canada, full of spectacular scenery most of which obviously entailed a lot of travelling to some very desolate locations. A packed meeting hall had an excellent evening’s entertainment with some inspired no doubt to visit the USA for some railfanning.

Monday 28th January
Out and About with my Camera
Hugh Gould

The Windsor & Maidenhead Branch we pleased to welcome back our president Hugh Gould for his second visit to us on January 28th when he gave his talk entitled ‘Out and About with my Camera’.

He began his talk by saying he had not been so far in the last year but he had still managed to visit France, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Canada and Alaska. This is still more than a lot of us can manage. Views ranged from around the UK rail network and abroad, also his other interests in buses and shipping. And the commentary was all without notes, what a memory.

We are indeed lucky to have a president who puts the travelling into RCTS.

A record audience had an excellent evening and we look forward to inviting you back again Hugh

Monday 26th November 2007
Southern Region Steam Past and Present
Derek Spicer

Do you have any slides and sound recordings of steam while in service on the main line still lying at home don't know what to do them? Well why not put them together as an audio/ visual presentation on DVD as our speaker, Derek Spicer did and the combination makes for a cracking good evening's entertainment. The first half of Derek's presentation Southern Steam Past and Present showed the last months of steam on the Southern from January 1967 up to its demise and in almost all the shots the locomotives do look a sorry sight, dirty, neglected, unloved and even the nameplates removed. But they worked hard up to then end.

The second half of Derek's presentation showed the revival of Southern steam in the present day where the condition of the locos was generally spotless. This took the form of a video presentation, again on DVD and featured a selection of locomotives on preserved lines and NR metals.

Here you saw Bulleid's masterpieces in all their glory working hard on passenger services through the rolling countryside of Southern England which is what they were designed to do. Marvellous.

Monday 22nd October 2007
Aspects of the Great Western
Peter Lugg

Being in the heart of Great Western territory it was not going to be long before the Windsor & Maidenhead Branch invited a speaker along to talk about that influential railway. For our second meeting of the season on 22nd October Peter Lugg gave us an illustrated talk entitled Aspects of the Great Western which showed that it was more than handsome steam locomotives.

Peter started his working life in 1946 so experienced the railway before nationalisation and retired from a senior engineering role with BR in 1989.

Yes, there were lots of slides of GWR steam locomotives and diesel hydraulics from the 1950s and 1960s but Peter showed that there was more to see when travelling by train. The architecture of famous stations like Paddington is usually not noticed by travellers hurrying for the trains but Peter showed what may have been missed. Bridges were also covered including the Royal Albert at Saltash and over the Thames at Maidenhead which is still the shallowest brick arch bridge in the world.

Thank you Peter for an entertaining evening.

September 2008