Blog
Keep up-to-date with The Model Railway Club
Making Tracks (for Chester) 3
For the third year I (and our treasurer Gus Paul) have had the opportunity to support Pete Waterman, and the Railnuts, installing their latest layout into Chester Cathedral earlier this week. “Making Tracks 3” is the most complex yet as it features Milton Keynes station with 6 platform faces and a bay. Two of the …read more.
Jul 27, 2023
Manufacturer Updates from 2023 London Festival of Railway Modelling
With the 2023 show now successfully behind us, here are the updates from many of the UK’s leading manufactures they shared with us over the weekend, including details of brand new products announced. We kicked of with Accurascale with their latest launch, who also had their Mk1 Suburban coach prototypes on display on our test …read more.
Mar 25, 2023
Award Winning MRC
We were delighted to be recognised in the 2022 British Railway Modelling Awards – presented at the London Festival of Railway Modelling (LFORM) at Alexandra Palace on 19th March. The awards are nominated by and then voted for by the public, and there were string fields in every category Our 2mm layout Copenhagen Fields won …read more.
Mar 21, 2023
Weathering Green Diesels
Since John completed work on EM gauge converting my class 16 (thank you, John), I have been working on weathering/detailing it and two more class 15s whose weathering I had not previously completed for our layout Orchard Wharf. The class 16 (D8405) was factory weathered, so there was not much weathering to do, but I …read more.
Mar 10, 2023
A new home test track
One of the great benefits of MRC membership is access to the test tracks, allowing us to run our models on a decent sized circuit to run them in, and identify any niggles. Many of us will also have a short section of track at home and if we’re lucky maybe a ‘rolling road’ to …read more.
Feb 25, 2023
Skittle Alley for Copenhagen Fields
Further to my progress over the summer holidays (see this blog) The Raven NER 4-6-2 class (AKA ‘Skittle Alley’) now has a running chassis. https://youtu.be/i16nnr6LEfk It will need some careful engineering to get it round corners, but should be OK. It certainly won’t be short of weight and traction when finished. The stepped running plate …read more.
Dec 26, 2022
Bow Junction’s Summer Progress
Bow Junction’s turn to be erected in the Lower Hall started just after the May Open Day so it was erected near the start of June and was taken down and packed away on the middle of August to make room for Putnam. This was in fact the first time that all of Bow Junction …read more.
Sep 4, 2022
Orchard Wharf – fleet of 15s
James has been busy with his ‘late period’ class 15s locomotives. They have all been converted to EM gauge conversion plus had new couplings fitting. DCC has been installed including stay alive just in case our trackwork isn’t quite up to scratch. And of course the slightly fiddly pack of detail parts added. Now he’s …read more.
Aug 28, 2022
Holiday Works
Hope you’re all enjoying the summer weather. Thought it was about time for a workshop update. The next loco from the Darlington works in St Albans will be a Skittle Alley, AKA a Raven NER 4-6-2 No. 2400. It will make a striking and exactly contemporaneous partner to Valour on CF. (Just needs someone to make …read more.
Aug 18, 2022
London Festival of Railway Modelling 2022
The London Festival of Railway Modelling is the capital’s premier exhibition, held every March at the fabulous Alexandra Palace in North London. The next show is on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th March 2022, and we’re delighted to confirm that the following layouts, representing a wide range of scales and prototypes, have accepted our invitation to attend. …read more.
Jan 9, 2022
Heaton Lodge – one man’s memories in 7 mm scale
It is not often that news about a model railway spills from the pages and forums of the modelling press onto the pages and screens of the national press but Heaton Lodge, a 7 mm scale layout based upon a section of line in West Yorkshire has done just that. We sent our West Yorkshire …read more.
Dec 13, 2021
Model Railway Scenics – Carol Flavin Replay
Carol started her railway modelling life in 2017 because of her grandchildren’s enthusiasm and she had no idea how absorbed and engaged she would become. “It’s how I came to appreciate my love of making realistic scenery. Modelling in OO Gauge, Edge Hey & Strines Railway expanded to fill a whole bedroom, and is a …read more.
Oct 25, 2021