For enthusiasts, researchers and modellers of the Great Eastern Railway

Welcome to the Great Eastern Railway Society website

We hope visitors will find plenty of interest about the former Great Eastern Railway (GER), its predecessors, successors and related railways in the East Anglia area.

The Society caters for all aspects of the railway, both historical and modern day. We take an interest not only in the GER (1862-1922) but also its predecessors such as the Eastern Counties Railway and its successors including the GE Section of the LNER and BR, right through to the present day Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies. Other associated railways in the region are also covered, including the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway, the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway, the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway and the Southwold Railway.

Our members include general enthusiasts, serious railway researchers, ex-railwaymen, dedicated railway modellers, owners/users of ex-GER buildings and librarians/archivists. So browse the site to see how the Great Eastern Railway Society (GERS) can help you.

Become a member

The GER Society

gercrestweb The Society was formed in 1973 in order to promote a widespread interest in the Great Eastern Railway, to encourage and co-ordinate research into its history, and to provide a permanent record of the results. This is being achieved by building upon the knowledge of the known GER experts, and by locating and studying all surviving records of the railway...

The Great Eastern Railway

batswing The GER was created in 1862 from the amalgamation of most of the then existing smaller railways in East Anglia. From then until absorption into the LNER at the 1923 Grouping, it was the dominant railway company in East Anglia, only facing competition from the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway to the north and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to the south. Although not a wealthy railway, by 1923 it had more passenger traffic than any other constituent company and possessed the greatest number of carriages.

Welcome to all visitors from the North Eastern Railway Association website

THE GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY SOCIETY

The Society covers the Great Eastern Railway, its predecessors and successors, plus other related railways in the Eastern Counties. Our main web site is at www.gersociety.org.uk - click on Home, top left.

What do we sell?

Data DVDs and CDs, over 700 files (which can be paid for on line and may mostly be downloaded immediately), plus printed Information Sheets, working timetables, drawings, maps, etc.

How can I find out more?

The Files Emporium lists all DVDs, CDs and files. You can access it here.

The Sales List contains all available printed items, and also has the DVDs and CDs. You can access it here.

How do I make a purchase?

On the Files Emporium you add any chosen items to your shopping cart and go to checkout. You make your payment by Paypal or with your bank card. For most files you will then be sent an automatic email with a link to download them straight away; in a few cases you must wait for us to supply them via a file delivery system. DVDs and CDs will be sent to you by post.

Orders from the Sales Listneed to have a contribution towards post and packing added: currently (2012) this is 20% (minimum £1) for printed items, plus a flat rate of £1 for any number of software items. You send a cheque payable to GERS Publications to Barry Jackson, 14 Quantock Close, Bedford MK41 9EW.

A few examples of what is available

LNER DVD

All 21 annual volumes of the LNER Magazine from its first appearance in 1927 are supplied as Acrobat files on a pair of DVDs. The files are word-searchable, and we have added a fast-search facility which enables you to search the whole lot in one go (which should prove a boon to the researcher and the genealogist). The DVDs cost £15 and may be purchased from Section MG of the Files Emporium.

We have also produced two further similar double DVDs at the same price: one covers the Great Eastern Magazines 1911 to 1926; the other contains the British Railways (Eastern Region) Magazines 1948 to 1963.

We have published a series of superb drawings of GE locomotives (and a turntable), hand-drawn by a Stratford-trained draughtsman with access to original drawings. They are accompanied by notes. You will find them in Section LG of the Files Emporium. You can make an instant purchase of a file of a set of drawings, suitable for printing on to A4 paper (at a choice of 4mm or 7mm scales, or of a size which fills a page). You will also see a CD listed there, which has all the drawings on.

The Sales List includes the ready-printed drawings but these are much more expensive; moreover postage has to be added; and of course you will have to wait for them to arrive.

wagins

We have on offer a facsimile copy of the LNER General Instructions relating to Goods Wagons 1934.

It is a 59-page booklet displayed two pages to an A4 view. Many aspects are dealt with including the distribution and reporting of all sorts of wagons, containers, sheets & ropes.

You will find its file in the Files Emporium as item RR022 in the section on ‘Railways: Rules and Working Practices’. It costs £1.50 and may be downloaded at once.

In the Sales List it is there in section 5 as item M314. The price is £3, to which must be added £1 towards postage. It should be added that we see our function as selling information rather than fine books, so it will come stapled on non-glossy paper.

Sales

We have a vast selection of sales items you can buy on this website. This forms an important part of making information about the GER and related railways accessible to all. Products are available as digital PDFs, CD/DVDs and on paper.

Browse Shop

Journal and News

Membership of the Great Eastern Railway Society includes a subscription to the Great Eastern Journal and Great Eastern News, both published quarterly. They are both produced to a professional standard, rivalling the quality of commercial magazines.

Find out more

The Collection

One of the Society's major achievements is the establishment of its Historical Collection of Records. Together with other records at the NRM, much of the company's history is available to all.

Browse the Collections

Locomotives

The GER is remembered for its long-lived locomotives. The Claud Hamilton 4-4-0s and the '1500' 4-6-0s were the epitomy of Pre-Grouping elegance. Many smaller locomotives were well matched to the traffic demands varying from mainline freight through to lightly-built cross-country routes and branches, including tramways and light railways.

Modelling

When the Society was founded, one of the priorities was to support those who model the GER. We continue to have a thriving modelling community who exchange information through our Forum. They have created a Showcase which contains many layouts of, or inspired by, the diverse railways of East Anglia and East London.

Find out more

E-Group and Forum

Members can interchange ideas and information with each other through our E-Mail list based on Groups.io (The E-Group) and our Forum hosted on this website which is popular with our modelling community.

Join us!