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Welcome

The site is intended to attract new members to the BGS, provide useful information to existing members, and provide a limited amount of information on the broad gauge to anyone else who visits the site. It contains indexes to Society publications, which will assist members to find information, and give non-members an idea of the vast amount of information held by the BGS. There is a diary of events, details of Society publications and products, and other items of interest. It is not intended to be a source of free information to non-members - you will have to join to gain access to it!

Main Index

This site is divided into sections to cover the main areas of interest of the BGS. Choose the section you would like to visit.

• About The BGS - Broad Gauge Society Home Page including News and Events, general information about the BGS, benefits of membership and how to join us.
  - Membership - Join the Broad Gauge Society
  - Aims of the Society
  - Origins of the Society
  - eGroup - about the BGS eGroup, Objects and Rules of the eGroup, joining the eGroup and more.
  - Contact Us - contacts at the BGS - Membership Secretary, News, Historian, Committee and Broad Gauge Owner.
  
  
• Exhibitions - The BGS organise an exhibition of Broad Gauge models and prototype information every two years. For many years this has been held in Newbury, Berkshire, and non members are very welcome. Our members also exhibit at some public model railway exhibitions, and the BGS sometimes have a publicity stand.
  - Broad Gauge Exhibition Newbury 2004
  - Broad Gauge Exhibition Newbury 2002 - Report of our 2002 exhibition.
  - Broad Gauge Exhibition Newbury 2001 - includes Chairman's Message and photos of each stand. Stand 1: Bristol Goods Shed, Stand 2: Edgware Road, Stand 3: Dorchester Junction, Stand 4: Firefly Trust, Stand 5: Avonside, Stand 6: Kevin Robertson Books, Stand 7: Demonstration, Stand 8: CPL Products, Stand 9: Coldrennick Road, Stand 10: Watchet, Stand 11: IKB Models, Stand 12: BGS Membership, Stand 13: BGS Trade Stand, Stand 14: Millenium Project
  - Newbury Exhibition Map

• Field Trips - Every year, the BGS organise a field trip to visit remaining Broad Gauge buildings and other artifacts.
  - 2002 - West Cornwall - This year we started our trip at Penzance, and ended up at Redruth
  - 2001 - Vale of Neath - We explored the remains of the Vale of Neath Railway around Aberdare in South Wales
  - 2000 - West Somerset Railway - Most of the buildings on the preserved WSR date from the broad gauge era. There is a photo album of this fieldtrip, available only with Javascript. The Route, Additional Notes and References are included here. The report includes pictures or without pictures depending on the speed of your internet connection.
  - 1998 - Bristol & Exeter Railway - We visited surviving sites in North Somerset

• General Pages
  - Links divided into sites with specific broad gauge content and other interesting and related railway sites etc.
  Broad Gauge: Dukedog - British Steam Railway Miscellanea; MuiderRail - BGS member Cor de Yong in the Netherlands; Photo of "Lord of the Isles" at Chicago Exposition of 1893; Somerset Central Railway Timetables; The Broad Gauge Railway of the Azores; The Broad Gauge Story
  Based on an article by Lionel Smith first published in the Journal of the Monmouthshire Railway Society, Summer 1985;The Great Western Archive; The Life and Works of John Cooke Bourne; The Railways of Pembroke.
  Other: GWR Modelling; Historical Model Railway Society - an educational charity whose objectives are the study and recording of information relating to all the railways of the British Isles; Lynton and Barnstaple Railway; West Country Railway Archives - Historical information about the railways of the UK West Country, including their signalling.
  - What's New - recent updates and interesting snippets
  - Site Index - An alphabetical list of pages on this web site
  - Visitor's Book
  - Broad Gauge Diary - Broad Gauge related events.

• History - A brief history of the Broad Gauge, and information and photographs of locomotives, rolling stock, architecture and other aspects of the railways until the final gauge conversion in 1892.
  - Broad Gauge History
  - Lines and Architecture - Wycombe Railway - The Wycombe Railway ran from Maidenhead to High Wycombe, and was later extended to Oxford
  - Locomotive History
  - Research - Tips, Tracking Railway Archives Project, Record Offices, Universities and other collections, Libraries, Bibliography
  - Rolling Stock
  
  
• Models Illustrated descriptions of layouts and individual models built by our members, in a variety of scales.
  - Layouts - Avonside, Cheltenham Engine Shed - 4mm Scale Layout, Coldrennick Road - ScaleSeven Layout, Dorchester Junction - 4mm Scale Layout, Hinton Burtle - 4mm Scale Layout, Kingswear - 7mm Scale Layout and Teign House Sidings - ScaleSeven Layout.
  - Rolling Stock - Locos and Rolling Stock for Coldrennick Road and Teign House Sidings, Cornwall Railway Accident Van - scratchbuilding in plastic, and Great Western convertible wagon - an easy first step in broad gauge modelling.
  
  
• Products - The BGS produce a wide range of kits and components available to BGS members only in 2mm, 4mm and 7mm scales. Broad Gauge Society Badges are listed here. For prototype information and references about 4mm product F020 - 1840 Iron Tilt Wagon, click here.
  
  
• Publications
  - The BGS produce regular and "one-off" publications. This section gives details, and has indexes to the News-Sheet and Broadsheet.
  - Taunton in the 1880's
  - A3 Drawings
  - Broadsheet
  - Broadsheet index
  - News-Sheets Index - No 120: March 2001, No 116: July 2000, No 115: May 2000, No 114: March 2000, No 113: January 2000, No 112: November 1999, No 111: September 1999, No 110: July 1999, No 109: May 1999, No 108: March 1999, No 107: January 1999, No 106: November 1998, No 105: September 1998, No 104: July 1998, No 103: May 1998, No 102: March 1998, No 101: January 1998
  - Data Sheets
  - Data Files
  - Books and Other Publications
  
  
• Today - Information on surviving Broad Gauge locomotives, rolling stock, buildings and other artifacts, plus details of museums, preservation sites and other locations where things of Broad Gauge interest may be seen.
  - Museums
  Bristol Industrial Museum
  Didcot Railway Centre, Oxfordshire
  National Railway Museum, York
  South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh, Devon
  Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon
  West Somerset Railway, Minehead, Somerset
  Other museums: Bovey Tracey Station, Devon; Bristol - Empire & Commonwealth Museum; Instow Signal Box, North Devon; Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum, Devon.
  - Campaigns & Preservation Efforts - includes information and photos of High Wycombe Station.
  - Locomotives Today - includes information and photos of Firefly - current to December 2002 and Iron Duke and Tiny.
  - The Azores - Although the intention of the BGS is to cover 7ft gauge railways in the UK, there is a lot of interest in the locomotives that still survive in The Azores. These were built to work this line and are not typical of British BG locomotives.