Welcome to the Great Eastern Railway Society website

The Great Eastern Railway Magazine

The Great Eastern Railway Magazine was a staff magazine which the railway company first issued in January 1911. It continued to appear monthly until the end of 1926, by which time the old GER had long become a constituent part of the London and North Eastern Railway. Each year made up a volume, so there were 16 volumes in all.

Many of the articles were of contemporary railway interest or described parts of the region which the GER served. For example the 1913 volume included articles about the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Department; the speeds of goods trains; Electric traction on railways; Norfolk tobacco; Thorpeness; ‘The Dutch Fenland and our own’; and George Borrow’s connections with East Anglia. All were fully illustrated with photographs.

 

Like any staff magazine it also carried news of its employees and what they were doing. There were reports from the GER Musical Society and Cricket Club, for instance, as well as notes on presentations, retirements and deaths. From 1914 to 1918 came lists of staff who had enrolled in the armed forces, followed later by the names of those killed in action.

Individual copies of the magazine or bound annual volumes occasionally become available via second hand outlets, but because of their scarcity and interest they fetch a high price.

What the Great Eastern Railway Society has done

We have spent money raised from our Sales activities by commissioning a professional scan of all 16 volumes. This has converted them into Acrobat files, and in addition the use of optical character recognition software has for the first time ever made them all word-searchable.

How this benefits you

If your interest is in the GER itself, in railway or social history generally, or in local history relating to the region, you may wish to purchase the files of the 16 volumes. These are available as a professionally copied double DVD at what we hope is an affordable price. For Society members this is £10, for non-members £15 – still a tremendous bargain, surely? Both prices include P&P. You can order by post via the traditional sales list or buy online.

If you are researching your family history, your interest may be solely the information we have now made accessible rather than those 16 volumes themselves. To meet your needs far more economically, we are offering a search facility on your behalf – you will find the details on the genealogy page of this web site.