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.

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.

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.

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.

On our way to Peterborough

Our invitation to the National Festival of Railway Modelling has been the incentive to get a few more things progressed on the layout.   A major resignalling scheme has seen searchlight starter signals mounted on an etched brass gantry installed, replacing the Berko 3-aspect signals originally installed as a temporary measure hours before the first …read more.

When you want water on your layout…

Water runs down hill. So, front and centre should be the wettest part of the layout because it it the lowest. I always find myself drawn to water on layouts so I thought I’d add something. The first problem is that there is no space for a sizable water feature. Adding to this, most of …read more.

Grass laying on Empire Mills

Early on we decided to cover the front and back of the layout, most of the actual scenery, with carpet underlay. This produced a good effect, especially with a little bit of effort. It did, however, leave us with a dilemma about the middle of the layout. We tried a few different techniques for the …read more.

Empire Mills – Getting ready for Portsmouth

I haven’t posted for a while – this doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing anything we have – well I haven’t but the team has. However, with an exhibition looming we have had a burst of activity that quite frankly puts our gentle summer progress to shame. The show – its all about the show …read more.