What we do
The Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) was founded in 1961, at a time when rapid change was sweeping away much of the infrastructure of the Victorian railways, and now has about 1500 members. The general object of the Society is stated in its Memorandum of Association : '...to establish a Museum of Railways in Scotland whereby there shall be preserved locomotives, rolling stock and other equipment and relics of railways in Scotland and of the Scottish railway industry as may illustrate the characteristics of her railways...' Railways had a particular effect on Scotland, allowing her to develop from a rather isolated part of the British Isles to a land with great industries, whose engineers were known the world over. The industries of steel, coal, shipbuilding and engineering would not have developed without the railways. Railways connected harbours and allowed fishing fleets a ready market in the growing towns. Railways were used as a deliberate means of bringing development to the Highlands, and those parts which never had a railway did not develop much at all. The Society hopes to illustrate these special characteristics of Scotland's railways. The SRPS has wide experience preserving Scotland's railway heritage. In its early years the Society set up a small museum at Murrayfield station in Edinburgh but with the addition of more and larger items to the collection, moved its activities to Falkirk. It operates the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, which has been developed since 1979 on a reclaimed site on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. Several historic buildings have been obtained and re-erected to provide a traditional railway setting. Bo'ness station opened in 1981. The line was extended to Kinneil in 1987, to Birkhill in 1989 and in 1990 the remaining section of the line was relaid to provide a connection with the Edinburgh to Glasgow main line at Manuel, allowing locomotives from other preservation groups to visit the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway.