The London & North Western Railway Society

The LNWR Society is an Educational Charity with the following objective: “To advance the education of the public in all aspects of the London and North Western Railway, including the study and preservation of information, drawings, photographs, models and other material pertaining to the railway company and related organisations and subjects.”

Thus the Society aims to foster interest in all aspects of the LNWR , its constituent companies and joint lines. Formed in 1973 the Society  achieved charitable status in 2005.  In September 2023 we changed our charitable status to become a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation)   Click here to join.

The LNWR ran from Euston to Carlisle to Edinburgh and Glasgow through cooperation with the Caledonian Railway and to Holyhead for steamer connections to Ireland, served the industries of the Midlands, South Wales and the North West. It was the forerunner of today’s West Coast mainline. Much of the original railway infrastructure along the LNWR routes still exists and so the Society’s archives are also of value to those interested in later periods of railway history.

The LNWR titled itself the “Premier Line” and ran some of the most luxurious trains in the UK. The locomotives were built at Crewe, carriages at Wolverton and wagons at Earlestown, endeavouring to manufacture as much as possible from raw iron to station buildings.

We arrange several events each year, including Open Meetings throughout the year, our AGM in early summer and a Steam-up in September.  We also attend a number of model railway and model engineering exhibitions. There are four documentary services which are available to members: Library, Archive, Photographic and Drawing.

In addition the Society publishes four fully illustrated Journals and four Newsletters each year, plus occasional Portfolios on a single subject.

Whilst not being a preservation society, we try to encourage preservation by assisting with information and attempting to find suitable homes for any items discovered that may be worth preserving, or that may provide components for preservation projects.

A large number of the Society’s members build models and the Society assists model manufacturers whenever possible. We actively encourage and support the preservation of LNWR artefacts large and small.

The Society has a well equipped study centre located in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.  Here we store our archive material which includes thousands of documents, plans and photographs.  Members have free access to a vast and growing range of material via our online archive, known as the DMS. This is currently available to all Society members who can log in to the DMS . The LNWR Society forum can be viewed by anyone but members need to log in to be able to comment or enter the members area.  Work is ongoing adding more material to both our physical and digital archives. We aim to make as much as possible available to members and to all those interested in the railway.