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 about 1250 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. The passenger service operates to Birkhill, where the fireclay mine is open to the public. 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, where it is intended that a new station will be constructed. In the meantime this line is 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 and 8F 48151, LNER K1 2005, K4 3442 The Great Marquess, A2 60532 Blue Peter and A4 60009 Union of South Africa, and BR Standard Class 4 No 75014. Work is underway to upgrade the line between Birkhill and Manuel to passenger standard. The SRPS has launched the Manuel Appeal to help raise the funds for this project. Falkirk Council is working with the SRPS to set up the Scottish Railway Museum. The first part of the museum was opened in 1995 as the Scottish Railway Exhibition. The first phase of the planned development can be seen at Bo'ness where the refreshment and sales area of the large new station building opened in 1998. A proposal to extend the line to an interchange with the Union Canal is being investigated.

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