Who are we?

Just over 90 members who not only enjoy travelling by train but also discovering how railways have evolved since Victorian times and keeping up to date with the latest developments.

Our group caters for those whose interest in railways is more general, as well as life-long railway enthusiasts.

There is no limit to our numbers, with an increasing number of ladies joining our ranks.

Click here to register an interest in joining the group.

Tim Hedley-Jones, Major Project Director at Virgin Trains using the U3A tour guide system to show us the history of York Station and explain future developments.

Barry Cody drives a train on a simulator when we visited and toured Newcastle station.

What do we do?

We meet fortnightly on a Tuesday afternoon at the Clarke Foley Centre, enjoying a mixture of outside speakers and contributions from our own members.

Topics covered are particularly diverse. In the past 12 months we have learnt about the future of rail services around West Yorkshire, how Birmingham became a major railway centre, construction of Crossrail in London, the development of the Midland Railway and plenty more.

We also undertake visits which complement our fortnightly meetings. The pictures on this page give just a flavour of what we get up to.

The Railway and Art Appreciation groups combined to visit an exhibition of Terence Cuneo railway themed paintings as part of Hull: City of Culture.

The Hitachi train assembly plant at Newton Aycliffe. These trains will operate shortly from Leeds to London.