This page provide some additional information about the society operations but consult the Latest News page for the most recent news
10 April 2026
With reluctance, but considering the disruption we are experiencing with delivery of our products to the USA at this time of turmoil in the world, we have taken the decion to suspend sales to the USA.
We do this reluctantly but we cannot cover the cost of re-shipping items which have been 'misplaced' in transit. We hope to restore the ability as soon as we can. This means that you can no longer choose any USA addresses as a destination.
Postage Charges in the UK are also set to rise significantly soon which will affect the cost of shipping to UK destinations and other places in the world which rely on the Post Office or UK based carriers. we regret this but it is beyond our control. this will ocur at soem date during April.
We use the cheapest rate available to the various zones of either Large Letter or Small Parcel, untracked , second class with insurance up to £20. We only use the more expensive medium parcel, tracked rate for packages above 2 Kg internationally. If you are buying several heavier items, it may be worth trying to split the order into two. It's hard to predict.
The Website & General News
This website was a new implementation around 2021 which retains the features on the old site but adds some new items, We have added more pages about the society and the services we offer and we have created a members only area. You need to be logged in and have informed the administrator that you are a member so you can be verified as on our current membership list. This will enable any member discounts to be applied and allow access to the member pages where our Journal and other items can be downloaded. The new implementation added some of our archive catalogues in a searchable form, enhanced photo and drawing catalogues and gave the ability to purchase a digital file of a drawing or photo image if we have it. The file will be sent to you by email rather than by direct download. We have added pages about some items in our collections which will also be developed to bring other aspects of our collections to user’s attention. We have also laid a framework to highlight more about the society's facilities.
We no longer have supply problems with our transfers but unfortunately prices have risen and the lead times when stock gets low can be long so please bear with us. We have received and are scanning several new collections of photographs which are not yet in the site catalogues. We only do major updates to the online catalogues for drawings, photos and archives when the website administrators decide as it is a time-consuming process to check accuracy. But please inform us of any mistakes in the current catalogues. We have instigated a major project to digistise many more drawings and photographs as well as paper archive material. It is a long term aim to digitise as many collection items as possible and we are reviewing how we make this material available to members and for research purposes.
Access to our Museum & Study Centre is possible but it is not regularly open See the later paragraph.
SOCIETY MEMBERS MEETINGS:
From Autumn 2021 area groups area groups are generally meeting again in person and the schedule is on the Whats On page. Some groups use Zoom only during the darkest Winter months. Members remote from a local group can participate in a Zoom hosted meeting by letting the organisers know to receive the Zoom code. Please see the ’What’s On’ page for information. We do intend to use only Zoom for the AGMs. The AGM's are usually held in October - see Whats on.
TRUSTEE MEETINGS
The Trustees will also continue to use ZOOM for their meetings as it reduces costs and enables less personal disruption to living far form the study centre. Distance from the Study Centre is no longer an issue preventing any member becoming a Trustee.
MUSEUM AND STUDY CENTRE
The M&SC will only be open to the general public on specified HMRS Open Days when the Midland Railway Centre is open. However, HMRS officers use the M&SC to deal with cataloguing and sales. Delays in processing orders are being kept to a minimum. Member and Visitor access is only possible with prior arrangement when the M&SC is attended. If you wish to visit the archives for research or to gain access to a particular book or document – it can be arranged and you should phone 01773 745959 in advance or email secretary@hmrs.org.uk and they will arrange a suitable date and time when you can come with the details. We will meet you at the site gate and escort you to the building. Please do not turn up on spec.
Phone orders will only be taken if a suitable officer happens to be present. All orders should be by use of this website.
If you have sent a surface mail item to the site address it may be awaiting collection from the Post Office so do not be surprised if there is a delay. If you are waiting for an item, we apologise but we are a volunteer society and do not have full time or even part time staff waiting to receive every order!
FUTURE
The Society depends on volunteers to the Future belongs to you!