We are delighted to announce that an agreement has been signed by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society (NGRS) and the Moseley Railway Trust (MRT) transferring ownership of the NGRS library to the MRT. The library is located at the MRT site at Apedale.
The NGRS Library includes books, documents, photographs, drawings and videos. It has grown since the early days of the NGRS. It was started by Peter Lee, and maintained at his home at Golcar in Yorkshire for over 50 years. The library has used two rooms of the Amenity block at Apedale since 2007. The relationship between the NGRS and the MRT extends even further back than 2007; some may remember the days of the joint MRT/NGRS show stand which went to a good number of railway exhibitions in the days before MRT had any other form of “public face”.
In the early days of the site development at Apedale, the Trust was keen to have the library at Apedale to contribute to its museum aspirations. During 2025, the NGRS directors initiated a conversation about the future of the library. In part, this was spurred by discussions about what form the library would take when the Museum was completed. The aspiration had always been that the library would move into the Museum building.
The current NGRS library team will continue to operate in the same way they always have done – any requests for access or materials from the library should be directed through to the library team at library@mrt.org.uk. The library will be branded “The Peter Lee Library” as an acknowledgement of its history within the NGRS. A catalogue of the library’s collection may be found here.
