RRRG is pleased to welcome Andy Chard as our new membership secretary. Andy will be carrying out the role in an acting capacity before presenting himself for formal election at the RRRG Annual General Meeting on 9th December 2023. As previously advised, this will be held at the Alexandra Hotel, Derby starting at 11:30AM with all members and shareholders welcome. RRRG members can expect to hear from Andy soon as he assumes the role of membership secretary and begins chasing for subs renewals!
Andy is a lifelong rail enthusiast from Manchester who works as the Book Editor and a writer for the railway publisher Platform 5. His association with Class 50s goes back to 1987, when as a 13-year-old he visited London Paddington and had his first 50 haulage, taking 50012 Benbow to Reading. From that day he was captivated by these majestic machines and spent much of the next seven years travelling behind 50s (and other diesel classes) until BR retired the last Class 50 in 1994. In the process he "cleared" 50030 for 1,000 miles and clocked up a few hundred miles behind 50029. Trains and travelling took a back seat from the start of the 21st century, tying in with the culling of most loco-hauled passenger trains and him getting married and then having children. Andy has held a variety of positions across banking, finance and building management, until in 2018 he started working full time as a writer. He's written a total of 11 railway books and has two more in the pipeline for 2024. He's also written plenty of articles for the monthly railway magazines and is a keen photographer, with many of his images having been published in railway books and magazines.
For more information see:
@AndyChard1 on X (Twitter)
Andy's Amazon author page: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B082FK1T9V
