Welcome to the Great Eastern Railway Society website

LNER Magazine

The London and North Eastern Railway Magazine was a staff magazine. Although the GER had become a consituent part of the new LNER in 1923, it continued to produce its own GER magazine until the end of 1926. Our GER Magazine DVDs include the issues up to that date.

The Magazines here cover the period from the start of 1927 until the LNER became part of British Railways at the end of 1947. Each year made up a volume, so there are 21 volumes in all.

Many of the articles were of contemporary railway interest or described parts of the region which the LNER served. For example the 1935 volume included articles about Felixstowe & the Felix Hotel, the Yorkshire Pullman, C.W.S Developments at Pelaw near Newcastle, and Repairing Locomotives in Scotland. 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 social and sporting clubs and staff outings, for instance, as well as notes on presentations, retirements and deaths. During the Second World War news of staff in the forces (and in the home guard) also featured.

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 21 volumes – over 11,000 pages in all. 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 exercise can benefit you

If your interest is in the LNER itself, in railway or social history generally, or in local history relating to the region, you may wish to purchase the files of the 21 volumes. These are available as a professionally copied double DVD at what we hope is an affordable price. For GER Society members this is £10, for non-members £15 – still a tremendous bargain, surely? Both prices include P&P. You can order by post through the Traditional Sales List, or buy online now.

If you are researching your family history, your interest may be solely the information we have now made accessible rather than those 21 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.