Services to Members

With hundreds of members around the country and abroad, there will always be someone available to help with any searches or to advise on the best way to proceed with your research, so Joining the Circle can save much time and effort. In addition, there are other facilities and events available to members....

Our main forum for our members to meet and discuss the railways of Wales is at our series of annual Events.

Members may also access our extensive holdings of period photographs, drawings, property plans and maps which are available at our Research Centre in Rhiwderin near Newport. Many of these records have been scanned and can be viewed or downloaded digitally. A guide to sources of Welsh-subject photographs is published as a data sheet. 

The Circle publishes a quarterly Newsletter which gives details of Winter meetings, Summer walks, field trips and other events. It is the main vehicle through which Circle business is conducted and members can maintain contact with others. Space is always found in the Newsletter for publishing members' queries and findings.

The Circle journal, The Welsh Railways Archive, has been published every six months since 1990.

Copies of the magazine are lodged with a number of libraries and public bodies in Wales, and also at the British Library.

Articles and contributions to the Archive are mainly from the Circle membership, so there is thus the opportunity to present your researches in print to a wider audience but in a relatively informal manner.


New members receive a copy of the newly revised and updated Handbook which provides an initial guide to sources of information within the Circle about every railway Company in Wales and also lists many of the sources available elsewhere.

A range of books on Welsh industrial and railway subjects, mainly from harder-to-find sources, is available to members, many at a discount on published prices. 

The Circle itself has also published a series of outstanding books on the railways of Wales. 

Details may be found on the Publications page.