Basingstoke Station circa 1915  

(Picture courtesy of Basingstoke Willis Museum)

Basingstoke Station 2010 

(Picture by Ian Francis)

Basingstoke Station 2012

  (Picture by David Brace)

elcome to the Basingstoke & District Railway Society website.

BDRS was formed in 1974 to provide entertaining lectures, films, illustrated talks and other matters concerning railways, including organised tours and journeys of railway and associated interest.

The Society meets twice monthly on Wednesday evenings between 19.45 and 22.00 in the comfortable surroundings of the Wote Street Club located in Basingstoke Town Centre. 

Follow these links for This Year's Programme and Next Year's Programme .

Follow this link to read Reviews of Recent Meetings.

Typical membership is around 80, male and female, young and old, and our average meeting attendance is around the 40 mark. Most of our meetings take the form of an illustrated presentation given by top quality speakers including some of our own members.

Archive and other Society material can be viewed using password access to the Member’s Area and, for the historians and those interested, Chris Tolley's 'A History of the Railways around Basingstoke' and a 21^st century update by a long-standing Society member are accessible from our Local Railway History page.

Members pay an annual subscription plus a reduced admission fee at each meeting and enjoy many other benefits. Visitors are welcome at all our regular meetings on payment of an admission fee.

Our twice monthly evening meetings cover a variety of railway orientated subjects both at home and abroad. They embrace mainlines, branch lines and tram systems and include: passenger and freight traffic current and historical; broad, narrow and standard gauges; steam and modern traction; travel and photography; preserved and departed railways; infrastructure; and business and operational matters.

We are always pleased to hear from anyone who could give a railway-orientated presentation on any of these or related topics.

Learn more About Us including how to join by following this link.

To Find Us follow this link; to Contact Us follow this link or use the tab above.

22nd September 2021

Midlands Region B&W Photos

Society member Richard Coghlan will show a selection of photos from his collection, covering mainly Birmingham and Bromsgrove, but with some Southern interludes.

13th October 2021

The 9th Colour-Rail Journey

Paul Chancellor returns to give another Colour-Rail presentation showing the latest additions to their huge collection. 

To receive email notification before each meeting please send an email with subject "Subscribe" to:   Publicity@BDRS70D.com

Picture of the Month September 2021

During 5th August 2021, Stanier Jubilee class locomotive 45996 "Bahamas" headed the Railway Touring Company's Dorset Coast Express past Worting Junction.The exemplary condition of the loco reflects well on the owning group.

Photograph by Andy Fewster.

Why not enter your picture for next month?  eMail your image to: web@bdrs70d.com

Members can view archive and other Society material with password access on the Member Login page

For information about train movements through Basingstoke Station click here

The UK Steam Information website showing steam train schedules click here 

Rail fares between any two stations on the UK network click here

The live departure board for passenger trains from Basingstoke.  Click here

Get the cheapest tickets by splitting your journey!  Click here for the link to the web site with all the information  

Church Street Models, Basingstoke's in-town model shop. Click here for the link to their website.

Hampshire Models , Basingstoke's out of town model shop. Click here for the link to their website.

Ian Francis

Andy Fewster