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Site last updated 6 May 2008 |
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The SRS has had archive material in its custody for roughly 10 years. The first, and biggest, donation consisted mainly of several thousand signalling plans and signalling diagrams from the SR and its constituents, plus related material such as the instructions issued to signalmen at each box. Since that time numerous deposits of varying sizes have been made. The Archive has recently taken charge of its first direct deposit of ex-BR material (not “designated” for preservation as public records) sanctioned by the BR Record Officer (yes, this post still exists!). Of course, much of the contents of the archive originated from BR in one way or another, some of it being saved from the bin when it became out-of-date. The majority of the deposits are still from members, some deceased and some seeking to rationalise their collections and place important historical material ‘at the disposal of’ members in general. An important condition of acceptance is that the Society is at liberty to dispose of duplicates, or items deemed not relevant to signalling & operation, normally by sale to members or transfer to some more relevant body. The bulk of the archive material falls into the categories of: 1.Weekly engineering circulars and special signalling notices; The Archive largely complements the collections of the PRO and NRM, which do not have the resources to accumulate or catalogue all the minutiae of details of every signalling installation in the UK, let alone equipment supplied for export by British firms. The PRO, for example, has inherited some Classes of such detailed material, although it does not seem to have a policy of acquiring more. The question of a rational division of records between all the interested parties is one which is frequently discussed by the Archive Manager and other committee members, although at present it is not entirely clear how much can be done in this respect. The SRS hopes to engage in dialogue with the Railway Heritage Committee (Records Sub-Committee) with this object in mind, and also to make things as easy as possible for researchers and other users. A first step might be unified indexes to classes/types of records, inclusive of all known repositories, and some progress has been made to this end, e.g. Research Note 8. Clearly the TRAP project is relevant to this; TRAP is supported by the SRS with practical and financial help. By 1997 the greater part of the material was neatly boxed and shelved and listing has proceeded, slowly. A major distinction is made between (a) printed or “library” material (the first four categories above) and (b) archive material. It has been decided that the former will not be kept in “collections” according to donor, but consolidated into a single resource of each category. The remaining four categories present more problems of arrangement, identification and indexing, and these problems are currently being tackled. It is pleasing to note that the biggest collection, the SR one, was listed in detail by a dedicated member before it was even moved to the archive store. The Archive is expected to grow substantially in the next decade, both from members’ donations and from BR and Railtrack sources. The SRS is committed to working with the Railway Heritage Committee, PRO, NRM and other statutory bodies, as well as Railtrack, to identify and rescue out-of-date records. A number of members with very substantial collections are known to have left these to the SRS in their Will, and the society seeks to ensure that arrangements are in place for a problem-free transfer of the records when the time comes. The Archive is kept at the premises of The Kithead Trust near Droitwich. The SRS Archive is open on most weekdays to members, and by arrangement to other bona-fide researchers. For an appointment, or for further information, contact the Archive Manager David Garland, or in his absence the Research Co-ordinator Reg Instone. The following indexes to sections of the Archive are available from Stephen Courten (see Other Publications). Each index gives a clear indication of the material held in the various collections so far catalogued. a list of the contents of archive boxes as at September 2006 (in PDF format) may be viewed or downloaded here.
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