Archive Material
This page provides access to those elements of the Society Archive that are available on-line to members.
Photographic Archive Site
The photographic archive is accessed through this link and offers a selection of black & white and colour photographs in separate galleries. Each of the galleries contains collections of the work of specific photographers but may also contain images from other sources; clearly, some of the photographers were also collectors and this is reflected in the archive.
In addition, the archive site contains a variety of scanned documents depicting French railway equipment displayed at various International Exhibitions and a variety of drawings.
Moreover, the archive site has scanned copies of various MTVS magazines (long since out of print), depicting for the most part different secondary railways that operated in France.
FRS members have access to the archive and are able to download images for home printing, however this is subject to respecting the copyright of the images and subject to restricting such downloads for personal use only; no commercial use of the images is allowed without specific authorisation by the FRS management committee.
Photographic indexes for each of the photo galleries are held (in MS Excel format) in the website's Public Folder and can be downloaded. Each of the index entries gives a specific reference number, details of the subject depicted in the image, location and date of the image plus copyright and photographer information (in as much as these details are available). Access to the Public Folder is via this link. Whilst every effort is made to make the index information as complete as possible, there are, inevitably, some gaps in the knowledge and members are encouraged to provide additional information to increase the information available for each of the images (see below for how to submit comments).
Not all images in the respective collection are of a sufficient quality to be shown on the archive website and those that fell short on quality have been removed from the galleries. This explains why there are some gaps in the sequential reference numbers. In addition, the relevant information relating to these removed images has been deleted from the photo indexes on the Yahoo site as well, so there will be some gaps in the sequence of those reference numbers also.
To access specific images in the photo archive , select a gallery and a range of thumbnail images will appear; select the desired thumbnail and the larger image will appear; the bottom right-hand corner of the screen will show various option including one to download the image (downward pointing arrow underlined). Two icons to the left of this is the option to submit comments and by clicking on this, a new window will open to allow comments on the image to be made. Once the comment has been made, the moderator will receive an alert and will then be able to add information to the relevant photo index and image. The option buttons are time-limited, so if they disappear after a few moments just click on the main image again for them to re-appear.
This is the first stage of putting together a digital archive for the use of the FRS membership but it must be remembered that this is a work in progress. Additional galleries will be uploaded as time progresses, each with a relevant index to describe the images. In addition, a “search” function is being developed to make it easier for members to locate specific images, depicting subjects of interest. Also, we are looking to develop new galleries which will draw images from across the archive and which will concentrate on specific subjects, such as for instance “Armistices”, “American-built equipment”, “railway infrastructure”, “wagons”, “autorails”, etc., etc. Naturally, all this will take time to materialise but it is hoped that in the meantime the membership will start using the archive in its current form.
Members are encouraged to offer suggestions for the enlargement of the digital archive and may consider submitting or donating their own collections of photographs to be incorporated in the archive for the enjoyment of fellow members.
Naturally, the photographic archivist will be pleased to assist any member experiencing difficulties in accessing the archive; contact details are given below.
Bram van der Velden
FRS Photographic Archivist
& Digital Archive Project Manager
email : bvdv@fastmail.fm
telephone : 020.7607.7432
Scrapbooks - Museon di Rodo
The Museon di Rodo in Uzes/Gard was for many years an inspiration for many rail enthusiasts as it combined an extensive model railway lay-out, called the Gur-Rug in O-gauge (32 mm) deploying many scratch-build models (mostly of French outline) from an imaginary depot Andoble, with a wealth of documents describing the history and progression of French railways. Geoffrey Keen (President of the Model Railway Club of Great Britain) was a Patron and Benefactor to the Museon. Under the guidance of Jean Falaize and Henri Girod-Eymery, the Museon published a series of so-called Scrapbooks, containing plans in scale O (32 mm) and HO (11.5 mm) of railway equipment (locomotives, carriages and wagons) from the beginnings of railways through to the 1940’s. Published in the 1970’s, there are 73 different Scrapbooks in existence and these cover around 500 different subjects (mostly French but other railways are represented as well).
A full set of Scrapbooks has now been uploaded to the FRS Photographic website and can be accessed by members directly for downloading and printing. In case of any difficulties, members can get in touch with the FRS photographs archivist (email Bram van der Velden - bvdv@fastmail.fm); the Scrapbook index of available documents can be downloaded from the website Public folder - via this link.
