Volunteering FAQ

It is advisable as the NSRC provide funding for projects and schemes across the railway. By being a member of the charity you have the opportunity to help with these projects.

In general (see exceptions below) there is no minimum or maximum age as long as you can make a useful contribution to the railway safely.
If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must give permission for you to volunteer, and you will always be supervised by an adult whilst onsite. We cannot always provide supervision in all departments, so this may restrict days younger people can volunteer without a parent or guardian visiting with you.

Yes - but we’d suggest you inform your Job Centre about your volunteering duties. See the direct.gov website for full details.

In general, there is no minimum time you must give but some roles do require a minimum number of turns per annum to maintain competency (such as operational roles like guard or fireman). You can give what time you can afford to do so, whether that’s one day a month or a couple of days a week. You can decide with the Head of Department what arrangement works for you while also meeting the departments’ needs.

As a volunteer you will not be paid.

Yes, all volunteers will receive an induction to their chosen role and then any further training as required as you progress within the department.

Most of our departments use word of mouth, for example a face-to-face briefing or one-to-one chat to keep volunteers informed of what is happening where they volunteer.
Many departments have their own social media groups to relay any calls for help or short notice changes, plus e-mail contact lists for organising projects and work parties.
There are also general social media groups across multiple platforms for all departments, which enables all volunteers to be kept abreast of any changes and upgrades around the railway, receive formal documents and announcements, and also allow the sharing of memories and experiences from your time on the railway.
Members of the NSRC receive a tri-annual journal detailing the latest activities associated with the railway plus a periodic e-newsletter, whilst Shareholders of the PLC receive an annual update from the company.

We help you to grow through the ranks and learn some new skills along the way.
We let you break away from the doom and gloom of modern life to the high life of the railways.
This is a free Green Gym.
Make new friends and yearly social event arranged by the railway.

No we are not able to offer overnight accommodation, but we do have good relations with a number of local B&Bs for those travelling from further afield. Some of our regular volunteers travel from across the UK including Lancashire, Somerset and Sussex.

The company has two public and employee liability cover

To Sign up, please use the link below or the link on the top left of the page. Follow the instructions on the many ways you can Contact Us and someone will be in touch to invite you down for your first day of volunteering.

This is regularly the biggest fear we hear. The best advice we can offer is give it a go. However should you decide your chosen role is not what you wanted, then there is absolutely nothing stopping you from changing roles. Sometimes it is much easier to discover your preferred role once you have joined, and so you might find your ideal position whilst discovering the railway as part of another department.
A good number of our volunteers have moved across departments during their time on the railway. One particular case has seen a volunteer join the Motive Power Department to gain engineering skills, before moving to events and commercial. Another member joined for the Diesel Department but then went onto guarding, signalman and ops officer.

Upon arrival of your first day we will discuss what specific items of clothing you will need, as this varies across the differing departments. In general, the railway will supply a name badge and hi-vis jacket where needed, but otherwise you yourself are expected to obtain the required items of clothing. Heads of Department can assist with sourcing these though, and provide details of outlets specialising in the range of clothing worn on a heritage railway.
With the natural flow of volunteers, member do often leave various items behind for re-use which are distributed amongst the remaining volunteers as required.