Empire Mills July and August 2017

The Summer months were quiet for Empire Mills. But like the proverbial duck, beneath the water there was plenty of paddling. We were giving a lot of thought to the best way to develop the layout and, perhaps more importantly for the long term, to retain and increase interest in EM gauge modelling in the …read more.

Ingatestone Update: Field Trip!

One of the advantages of building a modern image layout like Ingatestone is you get the opportunity to visit the prototype to get up to speed on exactly what you are building.  So with master craftsman Eric Sainte visiting from Belgium we arranged a field trip which had almost a full turnout from the Ingatestone …read more.

Ingatestone: June Update

A slightly delayed update this month as we handed over blogging responsibilities to a new member of the OO group – me!   A lot of progress has been made on Ingatestone in the last few weeks.  This is greatly helped by the fact that all 6 scenic boards are now up full time in …read more.

July 2017 running nights for Empire Mills

June’s been a quiet month for Empire Mills, although like the proverbial duck the legs are paddling away under the surface. We’re running on two consecutive Thursdays — 6 July and 13 July — and last night we did a little work towards ensuring that stock prefers to run through a couple of the turnouts …read more.

Prefab platforms

  We have started the building of our platforms on Ingatestone 00 which are of two types –  traditional brick and the later extensions using a pre-fabricated concrete system (see header picture). This has meant we have been busy making prefabricated plastic components too! And they have to be laid out accurately so that the …read more.

Ingatestone’s May Update

New member Phil joined us on Monday for the working day on Ingatestone 00. We put him to work to help paint the platform supports that Mo had made at home. Liz also popped in to see progress and is admiring Mo’s model of the cricket club house. The 00 group is in most mondays between 11:00 …read more.

Empire Mills May 2017 update

We had a great weekend at Quainton Road, so thanks to everyone who paid us a visit. It was really fun to take part in a railway event that wasn’t simply a model railway show, and great to get out into the countryside for a change so we can remember what it looks like when …read more.

Ingatestone’s April update

Ingatestone 00  is our demonstration layout on Thursday 20 April in the lower hall, and  we hope to put up the four front scenic boards to help check for shorts and running.  The Monday session was most productive, Mo and Tom put higher ends on the boards  to protect all that “knitting” aka OHLE as …read more.

Open Day – Sunday 29th April 2018

Our next open Sunday is on 29th April 2018 – it’s a great chance to find out more about us and the benefits of joining our friendly club.

We’ll have a selection of our layouts operating, including:

• Putnam Yard – the original section of our HO layout, set in New York State.
• Lacey Dale – our N gauge layout set in Derbyshire, featuring a striking viaduct with automated main lines, and a small branch terminus below.
• Empire Mills – the final showing of our current EM gauge layout before it moves onto its next chapter.

Plus displays from our OO and Scale 7 layouts which are under construction to find out how you can get involved

Open Day – Sunday 23rd April 2017

Our next open Sunday is on 23rd April 2017.

We’ll have a special focus on modelling in O gauge and 7mm:1ft scale, and featuring one of the last public operating sessions of our well know layout “Happisburgh Goods” before it retires later this year.

Other MRC layouts include:

“Lacey Dale”  – our N gauge mainline layout with branch line. normally running late BR steam from the Peak District

“Empire Mills” – An EM gauge goods line set in the west country.

And the Gauge O Guild will be there, showing the range of opportunity to model in this scale.

Plus a special offer for new members applying on the day

New control panel for Empire Mills, and two chances to see us

Here’s a preview of the new control panel. Wiring work to support this is now in hand with the two main boards done and the two subsidiary modules depicting the clay dries on course. Come and see us this weekend at the MRC open day — we are hoping to have the basics completed! We …read more.

Thanks and Welcome

We’d like to thank everyone who visited the London of Festival of Railway Modelling last weekend, and especially all the volunteers who came with layouts and stands to make it such a great show. Welcome to the new members who joined us at the show. If you missed out, it’s not too late to take advantage …read more.