Welcome to Inter City Railway Society (ICRS)
Founded in 1973 we are a volunteer run friendly thriving Society and our membership is now over 1500 members, by far the most we have ever had. We exist to provide information to members through our 80 page full colour A5 size magazine TRACKS (see below or here). We also produce a series of comprehensive market leading quality spotting books, some of which are unique to ICRS, sundries and this website. The books are continually improved year on year with additional information and new titles. We also organise the several members only visits to railway facilities and attend Open Days and Preservation Galas with our sales stand. All this for a very reasonable Membership fee (see Join Us). However it traditionally only just covered the printing of TRACKS, with book sale subsidising admin costs. So because of the economic turmoil and global markets we briefly had to increase the fee to £25 from the start of November 2022. This amongst other factors and with costs likely to rise in 2023 led to a radical rethink of our membership structure and TRACKS production introduced from January 2023. For new members this has meant a halving of the current fee to £12 with TRACKS delivered as a pdf only which will also be available for Existing Members. For the full impact this will have on existing members, there was an in depth report in the Jan 2023 issue of TRACKS.
TRACKS was a monthly magazine for 44 years which was relatively 'easy' to produce rising up to 48 pages and from 2007 increasing photos twentyfold from a few dozen to over 1000 pa. On moving to 64 pages in 2015 the monthly deadlines steadily became too onerous. So during 2017 & 2018 we tried experimenting with bi-monthly production , which saw the pages increase further to 80 supported by a new 32 page quarterly supplement TRACKS extra, giving 10 issues per annum. However this became very confusing and still difficult to manage with the amount of topical news to fit in so monthly production started again from Sep 2018 with 11 issues produced in 2019 between Feb and Dec of either 64 (6) or 80 (5) pages. The same format was initially followed in 2020 but with a change in printer from the July issue all issues moved to 80 pages giving a massive 880 pages of content and approx 2500 photos per annum. From 2023 a full 12 monthly issues will again be offered so 960 pages. But with the chaos and stress of recent times, price rises and having changed to our fifth printer since June 2020 a radical rethink was needed, as stated above, with TRACKS to become digital only from Jan 2024. This will allow a more flexible production of TRACKS with improvements and an increase in the number of pages so consequently more articles and photos offered per annum from Jan 2024. As a foretaste of what's to come our 600th issue in Aug 2023 has been produced as 96p as has the Sep issue.
Especially since 2007, TRACKS has built up into quite a library of information, articles and photos. Especially useful for new members, information on the history of the Society and TRACKS can be found in the following articles: ICRS Story Jan 2013 & Feb 2013, TRACKS Story Aug 2014
You can move around our website by clicking on the menu buttons above or on any of the underlined words / phrases which will re-direct you to other pages or to relevant documents to download. External websites and downloadable documents open up in a separate window. Please remember to refresh your cache each visit to get the latest info and forms as we regularly update the website.
STOP PRESS
TRACKS: Sep pdf available from (12.00) on 27/09
When posting a cheque for membership or books please use new bar coded stamps as the use of older stamps incurs a fee and we will not pay to be delivered
Additional ELR visit offered (see EVENTS)
Due to a breach of trust over visit photos published in a book, all Carnforth visits have been cancelled by WCR until further notice
With no dates available there will be no further visits to Basford Hall now possible this year and due to the extreme problems we have had with other visits or trying to contact other companies no more will now be organised for 2023
For latest info on book deliveries see BOOKS page
50th Anniversary Pens, Mugs & Coasters available
NEW Reduced Membership Fees from Jan 2023
with NEW Membership available at only £12
(easily recouped with books ordered at Member discount)
Existing Membership fees to taper down to £12 by Jan 2024
(full explanation in Jan 2023 TRACKS)
TRACKS - our Magazine
In our full colour 80 page A5 magazine TRACKS we cover the very many varied topical aspects of the current vibrant railway scene illustrated with over 200 photos through regular features:
Eastleigh Works Report, Stock Changes, Freight Matters, Traffic & Traction News, Preservation News / Galas, Light Rail & Metro News, Infrastructure News, Out & About (member sightings), Signal Box Survey and Railway Globetrotters (reports of trips from around the world). Many varied additional articles feature items of current / withdrawn stock, infrastructure, spotting locations and members days out.
Membership
The main benefits of membership include the following:
- TRACKS 12 x 80 page issues pa (960 pages pa) downloadable as a pdf
- 20-30% discount on all ICRS BOOKS (direct sales only).
- member only visits to railway facilities, see Events for previous visits
- an informative website including access to previous TRACKS magazines
- 20% discount on STP European books (postal & tel orders only)
Sales
Books
ICRS currently publishes 9 (2 versions of Pocket Book) well respected quality enthusiasts spotting books under the banner of the UK Rail Series, which are revised and released either:
Annually: UK Pocket Book (spine), UK Pocket Book (wire bound),
UK Combine Vols 1 & 2, UK Locos
or As Required: Irish Rlys, UK Name Directory, Ultimate Sighting File Vol.1 - Mainline Diesel Locos, Ultimate Sighting File Vol.2 - Shunters, Mainline Electric and Prototype Locos
NEW: a series of pictorial albums on Locos in the Pre-Privatisation Era
Sundries
Our range includes the following:ICRS Notebooks (50 & 75 sheets)
ICRS pin badges with name & logo
ICRS printed pens with website & logo
Adjustable transparent protective book covers.
Cordex magazine binders to keep your copies of TRACKS safe.
Embroidered Polo shirts & baseball caps with name & logo.
Social Media Accounts
We have our own Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Train Siding accounts
plus a NEW (started Feb 2021) Members Only Facebook page (please give Membership Number to join)
Flickr Photo Gallery (Not Currently Updated)
We have our own ICRS Flickr website established in April 2011 featuring photos from members, some of which have also appeared in TRACKS. To see the individual Flickr sites of members go to Flickr Sites. Click on the Photos link for details of photo submission to TRACKS and Flickr.
To view downloadable pages as PDF files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer,
which if you do not have you can download here for free by clicking on the icon below.
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