THE first meeting of the new season of film and slide shows for railway enthusiasts held by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, Redditch and Alcester Group, was held recently.

As usual, the first meeting featured slides and videos taken by group members.

The slides illustrated the wide diversity of types of bus operated by the local Midland Red company over the years.

These covered the modern types currently in service, as well as more historic vehicles which were seen in action at various rallies and preservation sites around the country.

Also shown were some of the summer activities on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway and the local main line steam activity around Stratford and Worcester, including the regular weekly runs of the "Shakespeare Express."

The videos mainly featured narrow gauge steam in action around the country, including the Snowdon Mountain Railway, the Isle of Wight and the new Welsh Highland line.

The highlight here was the group member being filmed driving one of the large articulated locomotives imported from South Africa.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Malcolm Ranieri, one of the country's best known railway photographers made a welcome return visit after about three years to present a show of medium format slides entitled "Narrow Gauge around the World."

Malcolm loves the Isle of Man but has also travelled to such narrow gauge heavens as South Africa and Cuba, so a varied selection of top quality photos is guaranteed.