About ourselves...Visitors are welcome at all our meetings - so please come along on a Thursday evening and introduce yourself. If you would like further information about the Model Railway Club, please write to: The Secretary The Model Railway Club, Keen House, 4 Calshot Street, London N1 9DA, United Kingdom Our email address is: Please put - TRAINS - in the subject title FacilitiesFrom its opening Keen House has been recognised as the major London centre for the model railway hobby. There is a warm and comfortable lounge, with a licensed bar and a tea bar. This lounge houses our test tracks - which are available in all the major gauges - and also serves as our lecture room when we hold formal meetings. There is also a library and a lower hall where our modelling projects are worked on. LibraryWe have one of the finest collections of books on railway and modelling topics in Europe. The library is open on Thursday track nights, when members use it to carry out historical research, to browse and to borrow books. The library is also open at other times by arrangement. LayoutsThe Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales. We have two touring layouts currently, a 2mm scale layout, Copenhagen Fields, which is based on our local railway - the lines out of Kings Cross and a 7mm scale (O gauge) layout called Happisburgh representing a station on the Norfolk coast with sugar refinery. New layouts are being discussed and constructed: a 3.5mm scale (HO) layout, Puttnam Division, following American practice is being planned and Keengate (a OO layout) is under construction and is based on the Leeds/Bradford area. Layout and project leaders welcome new faces, whether novices or highly skilled - one member even contributes buildings from the Far East to Copenhagen Fields!. The layouts all work on one evening a week as well as the regular Thursday night meetings. The BulletinThe Bulletin is our bi-monthly newsletter, which contains news and views about the Club and the railway world, both real and model. The Bulletin also lists the club officers, including layout/project leaders and librarians, forthcoming event, lectures etc. The Bulletin is also available on-line on this site - see above. MeetingsMeetings are held every Thursday evening from about 7.00 p.m. onwards. During the autumn, winter and spring seasons, the second meeting in the month generally takes the form of a lecture or presentation connected with the prototype or model railways. The other Thursdays are 'track nights', when members are encouraged to bring in models to run on the test tracks, browse in the library, work on the projects or just gossip about the hobby. The Club's video equipment is available for use in the library on track nights and to illustrate speakers' lecture presentations. EventsThe Club organises regular themed Saturday mini-exhibitions at which the Club plays host to other societies, individuals and traders. These days offer the chance to met representatives of the more specialist groups which serve the hobby. Recent mini-exhibitions have included a North-Eastern day, The Kings Cross Book Fair and an O-Gauge open day in partnership with the Gauge O Guild. MembershipMembership is open to anyone, worldwide. The rates are £50 for a 'town' member, ie within 35 Miles of Charing Cross and £25 for others. Those of a pensionable age may apply for reduced rates of membership. See the membership page for full details of rates. The Building of Keen HouseThese are recently rediscovered photographs of the construction of Keen House and were taken by Philip Keller and printed in the exhibition guide for the 1960 exhibition. Inaugural Meeting of The MRCThese notes were thought to have been lost in the last war. They record the first meeting of The Club and its founder members, including W.J. Bassett-Lowke and Henry Greenly. |
