Rail Riders, originally called Great Rail Club was a club for young rail enthusiasts run by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991. Membership entitled children aged 5-15 to discounted rail travel, receipt of a regular quarterly magazine called ''Rail Riders Express'', and free entry to the Rail Riders World model railway exhibit at

York railway station York railway station is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) serving the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is north of and, on the main line, it is situated between to the south and to the north. , the sta ...

. The organisation used the slogan ''the happiest club in the land'' and ''travel, action, fun!'' During 1981/82 the British Rail Passenger Marketing Services department considered the future promotion of the club. The logo was based on a side-profile of the British Rail Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train (APT), and a

knitting pattern A knitting pattern is a set of written instructions on how to construct items using knitting. Forms There are two basic forms of knitting patterns: * Text patterns which use numerals and words (and usually Knitting abbreviations, abbreviations), ...

for a pullover with the logo was made by Robin wools. The club closed in 1991. On 8 October 2019 it was announced that a new club, unconnected with the original, would revive the 'Rail Riders' name and would be launched in February 2020, nearly 30 years after the original club closed.

Mileage competition

The club ran an annual mileage competition. In 1989, this competition was won by Jonathan Carter, who set a world record of travelled by train in one year.

Rail Riders World

The Rail Riders World model railway was opened by British Rail in April 1984 inside the old tea rooms at

. It was advertised by British Rail as "Britain's best model railway". Following the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

the layout was sold off. It was subsequently renamed York Model Railway. In 2011, the model railway exhibit was moved by its owner William Heron to a new location in

Hemswell Cliff Hemswell Cliff is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A631 road between Caenby Corner and Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough and on the Lincoln Cliff escarpment. The civil ...

in Lincolnshire.

Locomotives

The club sponsored two Class 47 locomotives, one from 1981 to 1988 and another from 1988 to 1992. These were 47406 ''Rail Riders'' and 47488 ''Rail Riders''. Locomotive 47406 was named by nine-year-old competition winner David Atkins at Newcastle Central station on 10 December 1981 with an additional full-colour circular plate with the Rail Riders logo added on 12 November 1985 in recognition of increasing membership numbers. In May 1988 the plates were removed in preparation for installation on locomotive 47488, which took place on 9 August 1988 at Crewe Diesel TMD with the plates removed in August 1992. Bachmann produced a run of 512

OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to , or 1: ...

models for Gaugemaster of 47406 ''Rail Riders'' in British Rail Intercity livery.

References

{{reflist

External links

Examples of Rail Riders ephemera
British Rail Clubs and societies in the United Kingdom Model railroads 1979 establishments in England Organizations established in 1979