Contact and Information Enquiries
Enquires and information on membership to the society can be obtained from....
scrsouthampton@gmail.com
The society does NOT offer reproduction of its collection of photographs for free. We also do NOT deal with general enquires about historical of current railways for free. The society is run by volunteers and donations are asked to perform research on your behalf. The society does NOT buy book collections. Below are a number of F.A.Qs that may help you with your enquiry.
Requests for information
The Society receives many requests for information on a variety of topics relating to the railways of Southern England. Whilst some answers are within the knowledge of the Society Committee or membership, and we will be happy to respond to these when we can for which a donation to Society funds would be appreciated, the Society is run on a voluntary basis and we cannot undertake research on behalf of others. The answers to many of the questions asked can be easily found by the enquirer by accessing a suitable search engine on the internet.
Use of Society photographic images
Copyright of images appearing on the Society website and within its newsletter, Track Topics, is vested in the original photographer or the Society, and as such they should not be reproduced without first obtaining permission. This will often be agreed on the basis of a suitable donation to Society funds, but ask first please.
Disposal of railway books, and collections of railway pictures and memorabilia
As with requests for information, the Society has limited volunteer and financial resources, and cannot buy unwanted collections of railway books and memorabilia. Please see below for details of suggested means of disposal.
- Railway and transport books. The vast majority of these are valueless. Specialist second-hand railway booksellers are often inundated with un-saleable quantities of books and many are unlikely to offer much if anything for them unless individual volumes are particularly rare or sought-after. The Society does operate a second-hand bookstall at our meetings and some external events, and is usually happy to accept donations of good condition railway and transport books to help boost our funds. A list of titles with author and publisher details would be appreciated. We regret that we are unable to arrange collection, except under particular circumstances.
- Magazines. Unless these are particularly old – in excess of 50 years – there is no value in these and the best way to dispose of them is via your local recycling centre.
- Memorabilia. Much railway memorabilia, whether paperwork, tickets, posters or metal signage, etc., is sought-after. The Society is unable to purchase such items and suggests contact is made with one of the several specialist railway auction houses for a valuation. Two such are: Solent Railwayana Auctions: www.solentrailwayana.com, Great Central Railwayana: http://www.gcrauctions.com. Others are available.
Photographs
All photographs are an important source for historians and form a unique record for future generations. The Society has a small archive of prints and slides, many of which have been digitised, relating mainly to the railways of Southern England. Subject to content, we will be happy to discuss how best to safeguard further collections of prints, negatives, slides or digital images, whether by accepting them into the Society collection or recommending other organisations which might have an interest in them. We regret that they Society is unable to buy photographs or photographic collections.