BIG MUSEUM FOR THE BIG COUNTRY!
60 YEARS OF THE SCOTTISH RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
I can remember, as a 15-year-old, looking up at a railway bridge over the main road at Murrayfield station in Edinburgh in 1965, as we drove along in the family car, and spotting a notice pointing up to a railway museum there.
This was news, and quite intriguing to me, for what I was actually looking at was the first public manifestation of the then-fledgling Scottish Railway Preservation Society.
Founded 60 years ago in 1961 by a group of visionary and courageous enthusiasts, the society recognised, even in those pre-Beeching days, that much of Scottish railway history was destined to disappear without trace unless urgent and decisive action was taken.
The Murrayfield museum housed small relics only but, under the chairmanship of John Hunter, who held office from 1961 to 1966, the society, realising that pre-grouping locomotives were still in everyday use on Scottish railways, pushed ahead with plans to buy Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No. 419 – still very much with the society today as its original and mascot steam locomotive, and also to buy a former North British Railway 0-6-2T. No. 419 was successfully purchased, but the 0-6-2T, which was in poor condition, was replaced by NBR 0-6-0 No. 673 Maude, which became equally well-known as a flag carrier for the SRPS.
Other major acquisitions early on included the Great North of Scotland Railway royal saloon, and it became clear that a permanent home was needed for these and a growing rolling stock collection.
That home was found in 1964, just three years after the society was founded, now with about 100 members. Many were students, some still schoolboys, and none too well-off, but they took the bold step of renting a run-down BR transit shed, whose roof had been damaged by fire but, crucially, was rail-connected to Springfield goods yard in Falkirk.
Although rather basic, this allowed engine and rolling arrived there in 1967, there was a home for the locomotive, although rapid acquisition of main line and industrial items meant that the shed quickly became overcrowded.
