Manatee Bay

“Manatee Bay” is Eddie Thompson’s winning entry in the MRC’s 2015 layout challenge. It’s a fictitious H0 marine terminal (part of a larger layout) located on a river estuary on the Florida Panhandle operated by Seaboard Air Line Railroad.   The inspiration for the layout came from the March 2014 edition of Model Railroader which …read more.

Old Head

  “Old Head – County Mayo” is Nestor Middleton’s entry into the MRC 2015 layout challenge. The Location The railway came to this remote little part of County Mayo when the Midland Great Western railway of Ireland opened its line to Westport in 1866. Not before long, a short extension was opened to Westport Quay …read more.

Newton Peverill

“Newton Peverill” is Mike Lloyd’s entry in the MRC’s 2015 Layout Challenge.  It’s an N-gauge Great Western terminus, that whilst meeting the criteria of the challenge has been designed to be extended to 8’x1′ to make it more operationally interesting.    

“Narrow Gorge” – OOn3 microlayout

“Narrow Gorge” is Tom Cunnington’s entry in the MRC’s 2015 layout challenge.

Although not his first layout,, it is a first attempt at a number of techniques, including narrow gauge (all the kit-built stock is new for the layout), modelling cliffs and water, and trying to give depth in a very small footprint. It was also a bit of a rush, having previously decided (several times) that it would be a distraction from other projects.

It’s built at 1:76 scale, the same as OO, but with narrower 3′  gauge track – normally called “OOn3”

Here’s the diary of how it was built over 18 days, mostly an hour or two later in the evening (with apologies for viewers on some mobile devices – the photos keep rotating back)

Christmas 2015

Keen House will be closed for the holidays after our festive meeting on Thursday 17th December 2015, and our next meeting will be on Thursday 7th January 2016.

4 x 1 Layout Challenge

In 2015, MRC members were set the challenge of building a small layout for exhibition at our December open day. The number of entries was gently been whittled down for a combination of reasons but four layouts made it to Keen House on Sunday 6th December, in no particular order:

• “Manatee Bay” – HO US outline – Eddie Thompson
• “Old Head  – County Mayo” – Irish ‘broad’ gauge  – Nestor Middleton
• “Newton Peverill” – British N gauge – Mike Lloyd
• “Narrow Gorge” – British OOn3 – Tom Cunnington

“Manatee Bay” was judged to be the layout which had most closely achieved the criteria set out below, and follow the links to read more about the four very different layouts. The picture shows from left Eddie, Mike Arnold (NMRA British Region President, and “head judge”), Nestor, Mike Lloyd and Tom.

Layout Challenge Winner

In 2015, MRC members were set the challenge of building a small layout for exhibition at our December open day. We are delighted to announce that Eddie Thompson’s entry “Manatee Bay” was judged the best by a panel from the NMRABR. “Manatee Bay” is a fictitious H0 marine terminal (part of a larger layout) located on …read more.

Off our trolleys?

It is often said that rail fans are off their trolleys! But the guys working on Ingatestone 00 are now firmly on and in control of their trolley’s.   We have been putting in some painstaking work (gold star for Mo for his skill and guidance)  to build some trolleys so the layout can be …read more.

London Underground at Keen House

Mind The Gap! in our railway modelling range. What was once a very Niche part of Railway Modelling is now gradually becoming ever more popular. Recently this year (2015), two major suppliers of Ready-To-Run Models produced two new fantastic London Underground Trains featured on the Metropolitan Line. Bachmann’s London Underground S Stock and Heljan’s Metropolitan …read more.

Leaves on the line

We are looking for an 00 scale modern tractor as tractors of today are quite  big and sophisticated as can be seen from the pic of a New Holland (monster sized) tractor crossing the level crossing at Ely. Does anyone know of a 4mm model?     So why the obsession with a farm tractors? …read more.

Progress on Copenhagen Fields

We have had a very productive two days working on the layout. The track plan at the southeastern side of the goods yard, especially at the front, has been finalised and has  gone to Keith Armes for turnout manufacture. We have included an extra crossover to allow a twelve-wagon run-round in the goods arrival sidings, …read more.

Class 127 DMU

  Class 127 4-car DMUs formed the local passenger services on the Midland main line south of Bedford, so have always been on the list of stock required for Minories. A club member started work on a unit back in 2007, but it didn’t get very far. In the interim, I made a 3-car 116 …read more.