The RPSI has been running monthly meetings in Belfast, during the winter months, almost continually since February 1974.
Guest speakers from all corners of Ireland and beyond have enthralled our audiences with tales of all things railway - broad and narrow gauge - mostly steam, with many pictures from behind the scenes. Hundreds of slide shows and miles of movie film and video have revealed every corner of the island's railway network to consistently large audiences, reputedly the largest in these islands.
All Welcome!
Please download and display/advertise the meetings programme.
| Date | Meeting Details |
|---|---|
| 08-Oct-2025 | Castlederg & Victoria Bridge Tramway Charles Friel reviews this three foot gauge roadside tramway in West Tyrone and its operations. Although only seven miles long, the line had both Ireland’s first internal combustion railcar and its first diesel locomotive. Included will be what happened to some of the rolling stock after the line’s closure in 1933. You might be surprised! |
| 12-Nov-2025 | Translink NI Railways - Better Connected Today and Tomorrow Ian Campbell, Director of Service Operations, outlines the recent developments that have seen significant passenger growth on the NIR network and the plans to further grow and sustain rail services in the short, medium and long term. The presentation will include an analysis of the current rail network, Belfast Grand Central station, cross-border rail, new fleet programmes, infrastructure, decarbonisation of the railway and the network development strategy. |
| 10-Dec-2025 | More Travels With Mac Michael McMahon brings us on another ramble across the island with more pictures from the late R.M. (Mac) Arnold who travelled widely between the end of the Second World War and the early 1970s to experience, time and photograph steam workings in every county in Ireland - and always with an eye for the quirky and the unusual. |
| 14-Jan-2026 | Greenore John Martin brings us the story of the roles played by the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway and the London & North Western Railway in the life of this historic port with its busy passenger, goods and cattle traffic to and from Holyhead and its important connections to London. |
| 11-Feb-2026 | Belfast Great Victoria Street Remembered Robert White continues his review of this recently lost terminus. From a royal train through a vast array of steam and diesel workings, changes in exterior and interior architecture, layout and signalling to the long, sad rundown to closure in 1976. Despite the UTA takeover, the place remained essentially Great Northern to the end. |
| 11-Mar-2026 | A Donegal Double Joe Begley uses many never previously published pictures to cover both of County Donegal’s narrow gauge lines with "The Building of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly’s Burtonport Extension" and "The Last Days of the Wee Donegal". The latter is portrayed in the rarely-seen colour slides of David Soggee. |
| 01-Apr-2026 | With Lance King In Ireland - 1958 to 1970 Leslie McAllister pays tribute to his late friend who faithfully recorded, in colour, the last steam on CIÉ’s branch lines and in the Dublin area before capturing steam’s last days on former GNR and NCC lines. With many exquisite scenes seldom seen in public. |
The Meeting
All talks commence at 7:30pm and are fully illustrated.
Apart from any announcements, each meeting includes a short 'Newsreel'. This gives a bite-sized look at recent events or intriguing engineering in which the RPSI has been involved. It is the natural appetiser to getting involved yourself and becoming one of the volunteers who do so much behind the scenes. There may also be a brief update on the wider Society from our General Manager.
The Society's shop, with its extensive range of railway books and pictures, will be open before each meeting and again at the interval when refreshments will also be available in return for a small extra donation. The meetings will finish at 10pm.
The Venue
Parke Hall, Orangefield Presbyterian Church, Castlereagh Road, Belfast, BT5 6BH
The hall can be reached using Metro bus services 5A and 31, and Ulsterbus service 512 - the Montgomery Road stop coming into Belfast, and Orby Street on the way out.
The meetings are fully accessible for wheelchair users.