Our new Curator Tony Lyster, has distilled this article by researching lots of documents and discussions with early members. It gives a flavour of the pioneering spirit of our predecessors and shows just how close their ambitions came to being derailed on more than one occasion.

As we all know, 1969 was the year that the formative collection at Quainton was opened to the public, but where and when did it all begin? Much seems to have been clouded by the mists of time, but with the help of old minute books, newsletters and early members' recollections, I have pieced this article together. More may yet come to light to complete the picture. D Noel Draycott had the idea of a national railway focused organisation with regional Districts as a way of reducing fragmentary effort by individuals. He formed the West Midlands District at a meeting on 21st November 1959, now known as the Chasewater Railway. The Scottish District has evolved through Falkirk into the present-day Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, whilst the London District became The London Railway Preservation Society, evolving into the Quainton Railway Society. These Railway Preservation Societies were founding members of the ARPS (Association of Railway Preservation Societies) now known as the HRA (Heritage Railway Association). D Noel Draycott's idea was that each District would acquire stock and establish a depot which, when restored, could be operated on a branch line.

These were very early days. The Talyllyn had started in 1954, the Bluebell Railway in 1959. There was a firmly held view that the country couldn't sustain more than a couple of societies and Noel's idea was that the Districts would jointly operate one branch line. When the Severn Valley announced plans for a 6-mile line it was seen, in some quarters, as ludicrous. The problem was that people just weren't used to the idea - as the Chasewater site puts it, "the lads of the day saved their pocket money to buy Ian Allan's reference books, not to make donations towards some old coach". The average wage in 1962 was about 10% of that today, fewer people owned cars, and motorways were novelties. Dr Beeching's axe was just starting to swing and the last BR steam loco, Evening Star, was built in 1960.

Sometime before 1962, Richard Castle replied to a letter in a paper suggesting that a GER J15 and coaches should be saved. As a result, he met Noel, who had mentioned 3 elderly coaches at Woolwich, at Liverpool Street Station. Due to insufficient funds of these only the London Chatham & Dover Railway coach was saved and 2 North London Railway ones were burned. The Chatham coach in today's vintage train cost £8, but the transport was £72, 10, 0. The purchase led to the need for a depot, which was found at Hockerill, Bishops Stortford, in the form of a 120-foot siding in August 1962.

In December 62, an appeal was launched to save a Metropolitan Railway F class 0-6-2 tank. However, following expert boiler smith advice, this was changed to an E class and thereby L-44 was saved, but it took 11 months and another group nearly got her! She was subsequently delivered to a refrigerated depot at Luton under her own steam for an inclusive price of £500 based on the scrap value plus two men's wages. By October 63 a GNR coach (in today's vintage train) had arrived at Hockerill and the Beattie was due in as well! The Beattie, fresh off its farewell tour around southwest London, was delivered within the same 36 hour period as L-44, but by goods train at a cost of £750.

Beattie suffered some damage to the eccentric studs during delivery and BR offered to supply replacements from stock at Eastleigh. However, none existed so new ones were made at Nine Elms and fitted by a local engineering firm. Their £8 bill was paid by BR!

Around this time familiar names started to appear - David Alexander was treasurer, with Noel Draycott in the chair and Richard Castle as secretary. In October 63, Dennis Vass started selling LRPS branded ball point pens for a shilling and began collecting used postage stamps. Money was always tight [no change there!] and Dennis was joined by Austin Harland in March 66 and by July 67 fundraising included selling films, collecting tea stamps, trading cards and cigarette coupons. These were joined later by 5 inch overprinted combs for a shilling and, in 1968, by shop soiled books, prints and locomotive lists. A sales stand toured local events from Southend to Basingstoke and, following a bad experience with getting it on and off public transport and taxis, a l0cwt Ford Thames pickup truck was bought in 1965 - the road tax was £11, 11, 0 for 4 months! B ack in 1963, an appeal went out for sightings of possible branch lines. The Chairman published some guidelines - it needed to be rural, but be near lots of people, have pretty views, be 2 to 4 miles long and have sheds. The Saffron Walden branch was soon turned down, but the Buntingford line remained a possibility for a couple of years, only being ruled out by the maintenance overhead of a number of bridges. The February 64 newsletter states that the Hatfield & St Albans line had been rejected along with 6 unnamed others.

In 1964, membership stood at 111 and there were near constant appeals for help in various areas including the collection of smaller items such as the signal frames from Buntingford and Braughing stations. Two vehicles were lost to preservation when BR asked £125 for a Midland & Eastern Railway 4-wheel carriage truck and £145 for a North British Railway 6 wheel brake van, as the combined scrap value was only £50. At the same time an appeal was launched for a GER 1876 passenger brake and 2 LNER bow ended 64 seaters. The cheque for the GER van was returned when its condition was fully realised! Around this time the Midland Railway road crane and the signal box board were obtained from Henlow Camp, a RAF base in Bedfordshire. The crane is in the Museum and the box board in the Oxford Room.

As the Society grew, so did its newsletters, still roughly bimonthly. They had expanded from a single double-sided sheet in 1962 to 5 sheets 3 years later, but were still produced on a Roneo stencil and typewriter. Articles on L & YR rail motors, Charles Dickens & Railways and Crich Tramway Museum were in the July edition, whilst the October one proclaimed "member of Association of Railway Preservation Societies" under the title. An Enfield & Barnet branch was formed whilst it was noted that "not enough members owned cars" to help with attendance at exhibitions.

In January 66 two names appeared that were to shape our future - Roy Miller and Peter Clarke, who were appointed to the Depot Subcommittee - its brief - find a home! The Branch Line Fund stood at £40. Also that month it was noted that a nameplate that sold for £3 in 1961 was resold for £15 in 1964 and fetched £50 in 1966; prices were rising! The newsletters covered other matters such as the scrapping of Ben Alder, the removal of Duke of Gloucester from the National Preserved List and the possibility of using St Pancras as a replacement for the now closed Clapham Museum.

Early in 1966, John Hutchings and Alan Sturrock purchased Swanscombe, which went to Luton where it was joined the following May by the LNWR Diner, purchased for a high £350 and a Midland Railway 1F 41708. Luton's two 100 foot sidings were getting very full, so it must have been a relief when privately owned L & YR 0-4-0ST 11243 was sold to the L & YR Saddle tanks Fund at Haworth in July 68. With accommodation still tight (Luton had 9 locos and the Diner) another storage site was sought. London's Docklands was regarded as a security risk, but Aylesbury's International Alloys siding proved very useful. It is now the site of a large Tesco!

A meeting was announced for July 67 to discuss plans for the purchase of the whole Quainton Road site for £5,000, but funds came in slowly and by the following April's AGM, had only reached £1,374, so the decision was taken to go just for the down yard. At this AGM Peter Clarke was elected Chairman following the sad news of the early death of Noel Draycott in November 67 at the age of 40 from cancer. Noel was regarded by his peers as the first serious advocate of preservation by volunteers, a founding member and first chairman, and his passing seems to have put a lull into plans and events.

As 1969 dawned, the LRPS was under notice to quit both Hockerill and Luton by January, and the turmoil of moving to Quainton began. Roy Miller's latest article on Quainton's virtues included the aim of reconnecting to the network. New sub-committees were formed at Quainton - Loco, C & W and Signals joined the old Depot Subcommittee, now charged with the maintenance. The Kerr Stuart diesel, both Fireless locos and Cunarder joined the ex-Welsh slate quarry Hunslet Holy War and all the others at Quainton. 150 villagers attended a public meeting and the August 69 LRPS Newsletter was the last. The new Quainton News had a new Editor - John Hutchings, and he brought black & white photography to the front cover, but that's another story.

Jeff Jackson continues Tony's thread:

The London Railway Preservation Society (LRPS) was the forerunner of the Quainton Railway Society. They laid the foundations for the impressive collection and infrastructure you see today at the BRC. Bob Randall was kind enough to let me rummage through his collection of documents and photographs. I was very pleased to find a copy of the original appeal to set up a Railway Preservation Centre at Quainton.

Reading the document, I would say that overall the Centre has achieved what they set out to do bar only the connection to the main line and covered accommodation for all stock. We have been close to the former objective, but it remains an unrealised but not abandoned objective. On the latter, I suspect they did not envisage how extensive a collection we would amass.

The Rewley Road Centre must have exceeded their wildest dreams and provides unequalled accommodation for our star exhibits. The less glamorous exhibits have not fared so well. On a positive note though, we have plans for significant covered accommodation in the Up Yard, although in the current financial climate is not certain to be accomplished.

We have certainly exceeded the objective to become a Museum in achieving Registered Museum status. It does however remain one of our best-kept secrets, primarily as a consequence of the layout of the site, but exacerbated by a lack of prominent signs to shepherd people to the Museum.

Copy of the text of the Original Appeal Leaflet:

THE CENTRE WE NEED

The London Railway Preservation Society has long realised the need for a centre for practical railway preservation activities north of the Thames. This must fill the gap between the Bluebell and Kent and East Sussex lines in the south and the Midland and Great Northern and other schemes to the north, and at the same time provide greater scope for popular activity that the official transport museums. Now, with an ideal site becoming available, the Society appeals to all enthusiasts and interested organisations to support it in this important project which can mean so much to them in the future.

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 2009 and so does not reflect events in the 10+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
How it all began - Tony Lyster - Quainton News No. 101 - April 2009