Hello and welcome to the Rail Riders Website.
In 1981 British Rail launched Rail Riders, originally called Great Rail Club. It was a club for young rail enthusiasts. 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.
The club was closed in 1991, but in is heyday it had a membership of over 80,000 and is still fondly remembered by former club members who are now middle aged.
We started the journey of bringing back the club in August 2018 and after extensive research we registered the all the logos of the former club as trademarks, with the help from the Department for Transport and the National Railway Museum to ensure the original name and logos could be used.
The club is open to all age brackets this time and is similar to the old club by having quarterly Rail Riders Express magazines, discount vouchers, and discounts in model shops, book shops and railway cafes and so on. A passbook where members can get their book stamped by approved outlets to encourage visits to participating preserved railways and other outlets. Membership cards that entitle the owner to discounts on preserved railways. Regular prize draws, merchandise and a dedicated website, Facebook page & group for regular updates on events happening on the various railways that are involved in the club.
We have a two-tier membership, 1 single person membership and a family membership of 2 adults and up to 3 children. Participating preserved railways are offering a discount on both a one person return ticket and a family ticket. The discounts are not available on gala’s or event days unless the railway wish to offer this.
As mentioned earlier there will be a passbook issued to all members and this would have a space for the railway to stamp members books at the booking office to encourage them to travel on the railways. We will be running a competition every year to see who has been to the most places in a year and a prize will be issued to the winner.
The Club restarted on the 29th February 2020 after 29 years. We hope you may want to be a member of the club to take advantage of all the benefits.
Simon Buxton
Rail Riders Ltd