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 |
|---|---|
| 07-Oct-2026 | The Sligo Leitrim Remembered: David Richardson shares pictures and some of his family’s stories of this most quixotic of Irish railways which blended state-of-the-art traction with operating practices that William Dargan would have recognised. Join us for a trip down the line and see just what made the SL&NCR so attractive to enthusiasts - and such a lifeline for its customers. |
| 11-Nov-2026 | The BCDR Revisited: Patrick Davey takes us on a tour of the once-extensive Belfast and County Down Railway with an all-embracing collection of fascinating and sometimes poignant pictures drawn from several collections and including many not seen in public before. The talk will include some of Patrick’s personal connections to the long-lost lines and his own photos of many unexpected surviving artefacts. |
| 09-Dec-2026 | NCC Mogul Renaissance: Peter Scott looks back at the origins of the fifteen members of the NCC’s remarkable W class of 2-6-0s, first introduced in 1933, and their work on both NCC and GN lines before final withdrawal in 1965 and brings us up to date with the equally remarkable revival of No.103 in our Dunleath Workshops at Whitehead - the challenges, the achievements, and recent developments. |
| 13-Jan-2027 | Omagh - A Railway Town: Tony McGartland remembers the life and times of his home town, an important junction on the Great Northern’s Derry Road, with many pictures of the trains, the staff and the traffic and drawing on the memories of those who worked on the line, his own memories and extensive researches to bring us a very human - and sadly tragic at times - story. |
| 10-Feb-2027 | The Foynes Line Revived: Hassard Stacpoole recounts the reconstruction of the 26-mile line between Limerick to Foynes - from the first clearance works in 2022 and the complete rebuilding of the line through to commissioning in October 2026 plus a look at the line’s new role in Ireland’s rail freight revival and its temporary return to passenger use for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare. |
| 17-Mar-2027 | Lance King In Ulster - The NCC 1957-1970: Leslie McAllister with a second set of the late Lance King’s colour slides, this time along the NCC lines from Larne Harbour to Belfast, Derry and Portrush, with an emphasis on the Ulster “holiday” periods when Lance knew that there would be plenty to photograph! Includes NCC locomotives on former GNR lines and ends with memorable shots taken during the Spoil contract, right up to the last day and WT No.53’s last run. |
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.