The Amherst Railway Society has about 446 members who share some aspect of railroading as a common interest.

[3] Many of the people attending the first meeting had been active in a previous UMass railroad group that was organized by students.

In 1993 and 1994 the Amherst Railway Society received the Walthers Showmanship Award for sponsoring the event.

Donations have been made to various railroad museums, historical societies, restoration projects and scholarship funds.

Organizations that have received donations include: the Fall River and Old Colony Museum, the 470 Club's Boston and Maine diesel locomotive restoration project, the Boston and Maine Historical Society, the Chester Foundation Station Project, the Wiscasset Waterville and Farmington Building and Car Fund as well as trolley museums in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, Warehouse Point, Connecticut, and Kennebunk, Maine.