Christmas Opening 2016

Now that the holidays have moved along the week, Keen House will be open for our regular weekly Thursday Club meetings through December –  the test tracks will be available to run trains on, and refreshments will be available from 7-9pm.

2017 Committee

At our 75th AGM on 1st December 2016, Leslie Bevis-Smith stood down as Chairman after six years in the role. Over that time the Club has continued to move forward at the start of our second centenary, with growth in membership, work starting on several new layouts and improvements to Keen House. Tony Cox has been elected …read more.

Competition Winner

Congratulations to John, who was drawn at random to win a copy of Simon Bradley’s highly praised book “The Railway” in paperback. He signed up at our recent open day, having travelled down from Cheshire to see our layout Copengahen Fields in the flesh.   

AGM 2016 – 1st December

It’s our Annual General Meeting on Thursday 1st December, which is the only Thursday meeting of the year where it is ‘members only’. Frankly it wouldn’t be the best night to see us, as it’s mainly talk, no library and very few models.  However if you would like to visit us, you would be welcome …read more.

Highlights from Warley

  So we’re back from Warley. Setting up was restricted to four hours because of a delay getting into the hall – we need five, to include getting stock on.  Needless to say, our running on Saturday morning was a bit of a trial.  However the big success was seeing the major works at the south end …read more.

Goods and Mineral Junction Box

 I thought you might like to see the last bit of work on the centrepiece of Belle Isle, before we crated the layout to go to Warley.   Making blocks of buildings is a useful way of checking shape / space requirements. There is no question that Goods & Mineral Jcn. box will need a fully …read more.

Professionalism Maintained

The layout running settled in very nicely at the Club’s Open Day on 20th November.   Gary has devised a very elegant shuttle mechanism for the underground and Richard’s buildings made major progress as he demonstrated today. The main buildings and roads have been given a more convincing colour wash at the south end (which belies …read more.

Prize Draw

We’ve got a copy of Simon Bradley’s highly praised book “The Railway” to give away. Originally launched in hardback at Keen House, it’s out now in paperback. An extraordinary social history of Britain’s rail networks and its people, that will appeal to railway enthusiasts, commuters and everyone else who travels by train. It even mentions …read more.

Stair Lift Appeal

Disabled members and visitors are restricted from fully enjoying the facilities and activities at Keen House, with stairs leading to most rooms. To rectify the situation we are planning to install a stair lift from the foyer up to the John Anning Hall, then a second one from there up to the Library and Toilets. …read more.

Work “Ramps Up”on Goods Yard

Quite a lot of recent progress in the King’s Cross yard. The ramp to the Cally Goods & Coal Yard is now blocked out and in red oxide primer.  It is red brick anyway, but will need detail cladding in our home made brick plastic. In the short-term it will be weathered in its current …read more.

Putnam – November update

Putnam will not be running during the Club’s Open Day on November 20th.  The lower hall will be given over to the Club’s wonderful Copenhagen Fields layout, which is a good reason in itself to come along on Sunday. Several members of the Putnam group will be present on the day, helping out in various …read more.

Library Additions – November 2016

Our library has one of the widest and largest ranges of books for railway modellers – covering prototype railways and modelling. The following books have recently been added.

The library is open for browsing on Thursday evenings from 7-9pm (unless there is a lecture), and on our monthly open afternoons. Check out the calendar for details. Members can borrow most books to read and work from at home.