Open Day with NMRA – Sun 6 December 2015

Our end of year open Sunday event, in conjunction with the NMRA. MRC layouts include: “PUTNAM” H0 gauge (New York Central) “LACEY DALE” N gauge (normally BR, but could be running US outline…); Four entries from the Club’s layout challenge Plus guest layout “West Street Yard”. This small HO scale switching layout depicts the outskirts …read more.

Empire Mills

Update From 2 June 2018, Empire Mills has a new home. We wish the layout well under its new management! You can read about the EM Gauge team’s new project Orchard Wharf here.   Empire Mills is the Model Railway Club’s 4mm scale EM gauge layout. The basic layout depicts a small, freight-only branch line. The …read more.

Railway Modelling Howtos, Features and Information

A new section to give information and help about modelling topics to be added here

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Media

We welcome contacts from the Media. The MRC is regularly featured on national TV & radio and in the Railway and Railways Modelling press. If you wish to contact us regarding a story, feature or article please contact our Publicity Manager or contact us on Twitter.

My father has recently passed away and has left a wonderful model railway layout and some railway books. How can I sell them?

You will probably find most value from selling the individual components – the locos and stock, perhaps the buildings and also the books. Listing them on ebay will realise their true value – but this is a time consuming job – not only the listing and identification, but also the packing and posting – most …read more.

I would like to model a branch line near Ilfracombe, but I can’t find many photographs for the period I’m interested in. Do you have any in your library?

Almost certainly there will be many photographs of the station, buildings locos and stock for the period you are interested in. Unfortunately we cannot do the research for you. You will need to visit the library to browse through our collection. The first three visits are free. After that, you will need to join our …read more.

I’m in London and would like to visit the Model Railway Club to see your layouts. When would be a good time?

Our club nights are every Thursday evening from 7pm, when visitors are welcome. Sometimes we have guest Speakers (see the What’s On page of this website). Our exhibition layouts are not normally erected in working order as they are often being worked on in sections. However, members often run their trains around the test tracks …read more.

We’ve just got a new trainset in the house, and would like to learn more

Trains sets are a great start to the hobby, and we are keen to encourage people to get more adventurous and turn the train set into a model layout. We welcome vistors to our Thursday evening meetings where we have members at all levels of the hobby who are happy to talk. And we normally …read more.

Archive

Photographs and descriptions of the Club’s old layouts and other archived material can be found here. Use the navigation panel on the lower left hand side.

Links and affiliations

Model Railway Clubs (links to websites underlined) 2mm Scale Association 3mm Society Adur Valley MRS Amersham & Chorleywood MRS Andover MRC Barking & District MRS Barnet MRC BBC Railway Society Beckenham and West Wickham MRC Bexhill MRC Bexley MRC Biggleswade & District MRS Birmingham MRC Bracknell Railway Society Braintree and Halstead MRC Brambleton MRC Brighton …read more.

HO – Putnam Division

Putnam is The Model Railway Club’s American based layout, originally inspired by the Putnam branch of the New York Central Railroad, which ran north from New York. This line was single track and mostly ran through a semi-rural landscape of small towns and small farms. The layout is HO scale (1:87) with control via DCC. It is a work in progress, designed to grow gradually. The yard has been exhibited several times as an end-to-end layout, but we have recently completed work to turn it into an oval and can now run much longer trains. Work is under way to add scenery to the new boards. The big curve at the right hand end is the first to be tackled and, in contrast to the semi-urban nature of the main yard, will be rural in nature featuring a considerable number of hand-made trees.

We try to operate the trains with New York Central locomotives, both steam and diesel as befits a model set loosely around 1950, although locomotives from other railroads are used at times. Rolling stock represents the huge number of different railroads that existed at the time.

Work continues on the layout, including making the fiddle yard wider to enable a wider variety of trains to be run at exhibitions.