ABOUT THE SRPS

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) has wide experience preserving Scotland's railway heritage with members carrying out restoration work on the Society's large collection of railway equipment. Stock includes locomotives from the Caledonian and North British Railway companies, the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), British Railways (BR) and many industrial railways, as well as a wide selection of coaches and wagons. The Society was formed in 1961 and now has over 1,200 members. In its early years the Society set up a small museum at Murrayfield station in Edinburgh. With the addition of more and larger items to the collection the SRPS moved its activities to Falkirk. Throughout this period the aim was to establish a preserved railway in central Scotland on which to display this collection. Each year since 1970 members of the Society have organised a programme of main-line excursions. From the start, SRPS Railtours have used coaches from the Society's collection on the main-line. Currently SRPS Railtours operates a train of maroon Mk1 coaches dating from the early 1960's. The SRPS is the only volunteer group to maintain a set of passenger coaches to the high standards required for running on Railtrack lines. SRPS Railtours have been a major source of funds for the development of the Society's steam railway and museum. The Society operates the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, which has been developed since 1979 on a reclaimed site on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. Several historic buildings have been obtained and re-erected to provide a traditional railway setting. Bo'ness station opened in 1981. The line was extended to Kinneil in 1987 and to Birkhill in 1989. Early in 1990 the remaining section of the line was relaid to provide a connection with the BR Edinburgh to Glasgow main line at Manuel, and since then this line has been used for the movement of locomotives and carriages, and has allowed the SRPS Railtour train to be based at Bo'ness since 1991. It also enables locomotives from other preservation groups to visit the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, as in the case of former LMS 'Black Fives' 44871 Sovereign, 5407 & 44767 George Stephenson, 8F 48151 and 46115 Scots Guardsman, Princess Coronation 46233 Duchess of Sutherland, LNER K1 2005, K4 3442 The Great Marquess, A1 60163 Tornado, A2 60532 Blue Peter, A3 60103 Flying Scotsman, A4s 60009 Union of South Africa & 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, and BR Standard Class 4 No 75014. Since 2010 the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway passenger service has operated over the extension to Manuel, and from summer 2013 uses the new station which has been constructed adjacent to the Edinburgh - Glasgow main-line. Scotland's railway heritage is cared for by SRPS at Bo'ness. Much is already on display, both on the railway and in the Museum of Scottish Railways which opened in 1995 as the Scottish Railway Exhibition, but the collection of locomotives, carriages and wagons requires further buildings to support conservation and maintenance activities and to enable the whole collection to be enjoyed by visitors. To view .pdf documents you will need Acrobat Reader    Download it free SRPS Annual Report & Accounts SRPS Consolidated Annual Report & Accounts 2022 (pdf 479kB)

For further information phone : 01506 825855 or write to The Scottish Railway Preservation Society Bo'ness Station, Union Street, Bo'ness, West Lothian EH51 9AQ or E-mail Society