Green Signals membership gives you access to exclusive content and other perks, while supporting us to keep doing what we do. Our regular weekly magazine shows and other content will still remain free, but members enjoy access to even more great stuff!
How do I join?
There are two ways to become a Green Signals member, depending on how you most like to access our content (video, audio, or both).
This is the most flexible option and best if you normally listen to Green Signals in audio only (on Spotify or another podcasting platform), or if you’d like access to the exclusive content in both video and audio formats.
This option is best if you only ever use YouTube to access Green Signals content. If you already have a YouTube account, it’s quick and easy to join Green Signals without leaving YouTube.
What do I get?
Whether you join via Patreon or YouTube, you’ll receive very similar benefits at your chosen level. The main difference is that Patreon will give you access to the audio-only versions of exclusive content too. The lower tiers are ideal if you’re keen to support Green Signals but you’re not bothered about receiving much in return, whereas the higher tiers allow you to support us even further, while getting some great benefits in return.
You can view the full list of benefits offered on each platform and the pricing for each tier, by visiting the Join pages on each. But these are some of the things we’re really excited about:
Exclusive special videos
This might be extended cuts of some of the trips we’ve been on – we often only have time for a 10 or 15-minute segment in our regular shows, but we recorded far more material, so this is an opportunity to get that bit more from our visits out and about on the railway. Likewise, it might be full versions of some of the interviews we’ve shot. Or just special videos that we only want to share with our biggest fans.
Exclusive GS After Hours Raw & Uncut team videos
We think this is the main reason to join! The unscripted, uncensored, uncut blather from the Green Signals team after we’ve finished recording a show… When we finish recording an episode of Green Signals, the three of us always hang around for a while to chat about the show and what we’ve got coming up… so we decided to leave the cameras rolling and let our viewers in on the action. Expect some fun, more than a bit of silliness, and some sneak peeks into what we’re working on. We shared the first of these as a freebie, which you can listen to on Spotify here, or watch below:
Exclusive YouTube Live Q&A session at Christmas
More about this later in the year, but this will be your opportunity to join us for a live Q&A on YouTube. We’ll answer your railway questions, we’ll tell you some anecdotes from our railway past, and generally have a laugh.
Exclusive members-only mug & pin badge
Everyone seems to love trying to win our mugs through the quiz, so we decided that we should design a special ‘Members’ mug for our most committed fans! And who doesn’t love a pin badge? So we thought we really ought to have one of those too.
Personalised 10-minute video answering a question of your choice
If you have a burning railway question that you think we could answer for you, or you’d just really like to hear our take on something, now’s your chance. Our top tier supporters get the chance to have us record a video just for you.
Trackside magazine sample 3-issue subscription
Trackside is the in-depth, must-have magazine for the railway preservationist and active enthusiast, written by preservationists, for preservationists. Gold tier members will receive a sample subscription of their glossy magazine in the post. You can find out more about Trackside here.
SECRET SPECIAL THIRD-PARTY OFFERS TBA SOON!
This one is really quite special. We’re working on other exciting special offers with external partners who want to give our most committed members some extra gifts. We’ll let you know what this will include as soon as we can, but we hope to keep adding to these additional benefits to thank you for your continued support.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What’s the difference between joining on Patreon and joining on YouTube?
Patreon will enable you to access the audio versions of our exclusive content too so that you can listen on your favourite podcasting platform, such as Spotify or Apple Music. There are some platforms that unfortunately don’t allow you to listen to exclusive content like this (such as Amazon Music), but most do.
If there’s no real difference, why do you offer membership on both platforms?
To give you choice! Some people only ever access Green Signals via YouTube and so will find it easier and quicker to simply click the Join button and use their existing YouTube account to access our membership benefits. But we offer Patreon too, for those that aren’t using YouTube or who would prefer to join via Patreon to access audio-only content too.
How often will you publish exclusive content?
As often as we can! We’ll try to do our post-show blather sessions every week if we possibly can and we commit to providing at least one other exclusive video a month, but hopefully more often.
How early is ‘early access’?
It will very much depend on when we recorded and edited a particular video, but where we can we’ll give you access to watch 24-48 hours before everyone else. This doesn’t include our regular weekly magazine show because we sometimes record very close to publishing to maintain topicality.
Where do I access the Behind the Scenes content?
If you’re on YouTube, you’ll find this in the Community tab and the posts will only be accessible to Members. If you’re on Patreon, this will appear as posts.
I’ve signed up on Patreon but I want to listen to the exclusive content on Spotify/another podcasting platform. Can I do that?
Absolutely! You can still access exclusive content from wherever you normally listen to Green Signals. There’s a guide on Patreon’s website that will help you set this up.
I signed up on Patreon, but YouTube won’t let me watch the exclusive member videos
If you joined as a member on Patreon, your members-only videos will be available to you from within your Patreon account. Unfortunately there is no way for us to tell YouTube that you are a Green Signals member unless you signed up on YouTube itself. Don’t worry though – you can still access all the same members-only content, just from Patreon rather than YouTube.
Can I upgrade/downgrade my membership level once I’ve signed up?
You can indeed. If you login to your account on Patreon or YouTube, you can change your membership level in your account settings and it will take effect from the next billing period.
How do I get my very important Green Signals mug/pin badge when I’m eligible?
Once you’ve been a member for the required number of months, drop us an email at info@greensignals.org and let us know where you would like your mug/pin badge sent to and then you can wait in anticipation for your very special parcel to arrive.
How does the Trackside subscription work?
When you join as a Gold tier member, just drop us an email at info@greensignals.org to let us know where you would like your three free issues sent. If you joined on Patreon, it should have asked you for a postal address, so we will organise this automatically, but please get in touch if you would prefer not to receive the magazines. By joining Green Signals at the Gold tier level, you are giving permission for us to share your name, email address, and postal address with the third parties mentioned who will provide the listed benefits. You are free to unsubscribe for any of these offers at any time.
*How does the personalised video in the top tier of membership work
After you’ve been a member of the Gold tier for three months, drop us an email to info@greensignals.org with a question you’d like us to record a short video answering. The question must be railway related and we reserve the right to decline to answer it if it’s too ridiculous! But we’ll give you the opportunity to ask a different question if we can’t do the first one. Videos take time to record and edit, so you will need to allow some time for us to send your personalised video to you, but we’ll keep you in the loop of what the current turnaround time is.
