The Railway Preservation Association (RPA) was formed at a meeting in Leeds in October 1961 when several districts of the Railway Preservation Society (RPS) and the Bluebell and Middleton Railway Preservation Societies expressed a desire to create a national organisation to increase coordination between railway preservation schemes. The RPA formally commenced in January 1962.

The RPA’s principal remit was to oversee and further the interests of all societies engaged in railway preservation and operation, rather than exclusively focus upon its own preservation and fundraising projects. Membership was to be drawn exclusively from railway preservation societies. The RPA was to provide a means of liaising with British Railways and the general public through publicity; provided a meeting place for all preservation societies; disseminated information on proposed and existing preservation schemes, as well as coordination on matters of railway ethics and publicity.

The RPA’s publication, ‘Forum’, was published between January 1962 and January 1965, when the RPA was wound up and succeeded by the Association of Railway Preservation Societies (ARPS).