The Scarborough Railway Society is thought to be one of the oldest railway societies in England, its founder member being the late Ken Hoole the well known railway author and railway historian. The object of the society was, and still is, to encourage interest in every aspect of railway equipment, history and development. Our recently retired chairman and now President, is Robin Lidster author of numerous railway publications. Many of these portray the local region; the most celebrated being "The Scarborough & Whitby Railway" and "The Forge Valley Railway." Our Vice–President Fred Rowntree, who is also a founder member, was present at the inaugural meeting back in 1954 and has been a member ever since.

The society’s first club room was part of the old B.R. Rifle Range (the site is now a Sainsbury’s supermarket) which consisted of four ex N.E.R. grounded coach bodies three of which contained the shooting gallery, the fourth was the clubroom. In 1974 this venue was due for closure so the society moved to the library in West Ayton. Five years later the society moved to its present home, the Public Library on Vernon Road, Scarborough.

Society meetings are held from the beginning of September until the end of May. Starting at 7.30 p.m.the subject matter of our meetings varies greatly but generally features slides, prints and occasionally films or video. Speakers vary from society members to some of the country’s top railway photographers.

The yearly subscription is £15-00 which by any standards is good value. The society also organizes outdoor summer visits, venues in the past have included visits behind the scenes on the N.Y.M.R., the Ryedale Model Engineers at Gilling and the N.R.M.

From 1993 the society has also provided volunteers who restore and maintain the Heritage wagon fleet on the N.Y.M.R. In addition to this many society members are also involved as volunteers within the railway e.g. signalmen, tickets inspectors firemen, P. W. and in many more departments.