Empire Mills Summer 2016

As we indicated in May, we have an exhibition in Peterborough in October, and so the summer has been focussed on getting ready for that. As we started to fiix some problems with the track with (including some damaged track ends at board joints, the fiddle yard and some unevenness in the track itself) we …read more.

Open Day – Sunday 20th November 2016

Our next open Sunday is on 20th November 2016, a joint special event with the S Scale Model Railway Society to celebrate its 70th anniversary – with six working layouts on display:

MRC Layouts: Copenhagen Fields (2mm FS), Empire Mills (EM),

MRC Members’ layouts: Koindu and Moa Crossing (S), Blacklade (OO) and Grape Steet Bridge (S)

Visiting Layout: Trevor Nunn’s Trowland (S) 

Full details of the S scale layouts are below, information on the others through the links – Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates – and check back for more details.

Plus we will have a good selection of pre-owned models available from our shop, and of course refreshments (including a selection of freshly made rolls and Greene King beers) will be available.

Open from 11am to 4pm. 

Admission: Adults £3, accompanied children: Free

Autumn 2017 Lecture Programme

Our Autumn 2017 lecture programme covers a diverse range of subjects. Visitors are welcome. Thursday 12th October 2017 at 7.30pm “Electric Trains” – by David Brown Alone amongst the ‘big four’ railway companies, the Southern Railway embarked on a comprehensive electrification programme under its dynamic General Manager, Sir Herbert Walker. Between 1925 and 1939 virtually …read more.

Autumn 2016 Lecture Programme

Our Autumn 2016 lecture programme covers a diverse range of subjects from DCC control, through the Gottard line to one of the most infamous railway accidents. Visitors are welcome.

Thursday 13th October 2016 at 7.30pm

Mick Moignard presents: DCC – basics & upwards

DCC is one of the most important advances in the Model Railway hobby since we gave up keys for electricity.Come to this lecture to understand what DCC is, how it works and why it’s so valuable at all levels of the hobby, regardless of scale. We’ll look at choosing and purchasing a system, at decoders and their installation, layout wiring and running trains and then look around the edges at a few of the other things it can do.

Bulletin 491

The July/August 2016 edition of The Bulletin is on its way to members, featuring a range of interesting articles all written by members, including: Mark Brown writes about the company “Simply Southern”, who as the name suggest produce Southerm wagons in OO and N gauges An archive item on the last day of the Brill Branch, by the …read more.

Empire Mills gets a turntable

Following our last blog in May, we have unpacked the layout from its hibernation and a group of members gathered to go through the list of stuff that we thought needed doing. Now as we know, there is no ‘right way’ to build a model railway. There are certainly some wrong ways but most of us have a …read more.

The MRC goes Large

The MRC has just completed one of the largest layouts it has ever built, the “Django Express”, for The Goldrush – a pop-up restaurant in the heart of Vauxhall.

The 75′ / 25m long G scale railway runs the length of the venue, with a US ‘pioneer’ loco running up and down all night, creating sound and visual atmosphere for Wild West themed dining experience.

A G-scale commission – Part 4 – The Django Express Arrives

The owner of the venue was persuaded to allow us to put removable brackets up along the way to support the layout, which was a major relief, as we were worried that if supported only on the legs if someone grabbed it and fell over, they could bring the layout with it. The brackets not …read more.

A G-scale Commission -Part 3

Work continued, with more track laid, and the wiring following closely behind. The connectors are 3-pin XLRs, with wires linking directly between the sockets on the boards and then to each section of rail. There are separate jumpers between each of the boards. The wire is thicker than we’d normally use, to make sure it …read more.

Library Additions – June 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.

A G-scale commission – Part 2

Work has continued over the weekend, with all 15 boards now made. The picture here shows 12 of them with some of the underside cross-bracing. What’s more, they all fit together, but our work-room is only about 10m long, so it’s not possible to erect the full length at one time, even if we didn’t …read more.

A G-scale commission – Part 1

As you can imagine, we get a fairly steady stream of requests to help others make bespoke model railways, from a huge range of people – private individuals, TV and film productions and fixed installations in  commercial premises. We aren’t in a position to help with most for all sorts of reasons (normally unrealistic budgets and timescales), …read more.