The Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales.
A new home test track
One of the great benefits of MRC membership is access to the test tracks, allowing us to run our models on a decent sized circuit to run them in, and identify any niggles. Many of us will also have a short section of track at home and if we’re lucky maybe a ‘rolling road’ to …read more.
Feb 25, 2023
A Freightliner for Minories
Freightliners were a regular feature on the section of railway I overlooked as a child, running down off the WCML through Primrose Hill and Camden Road. The Hornby model is clearly very dated: and I could never quite convince myself to buy the Colin Craig etched kits that I have jealously watched on other layouts, …read more.
Aug 6, 2020
Exchange Sidings – A start in EM gauge
In Bulletin 416, I outlined the plans for a small shunting EM gauge layout that we would try to build in a weekend. So did we do it? The 21 and 22 February 2004 were the days chosen for the project. Despite a number of offers of assistance, I was slightly concerned on whether the …read more.
May 8, 2020
Quintart Build – Part 2
The bodies all follow the same principle for construction and just to confuse things these pictures aren’t all of the same coach. A reminder, this is how they come: As well as sanding off the pips where the elements are joined in the printing, there was a small amount of filing of some window frames. …read more.
Apr 23, 2020
Quintart Build – Part 1
Our new club EM gauge layout “Orchard Wharf” is in need of some stock, and one of the items asked for the peak hour passenger service is a Gresley Quintart set. Why and what is a Quintart – because they are rakes of 5 coach bodies, with only 6 bogies with the coaches articulating and …read more.
Apr 19, 2020
Minories in Brighton
The final outing for us in 2019 was to the Brighton Model Railway exhibition in November. It’s an invite from our member Nestor that we’ve had to put off due to previous clashes with Tolworth and Wakefield, but it’s a reasonably quick drive down the A23 for a set up on the Saturday morning as …read more.
Nov 28, 2019
Minories at the Great Electric Train Show 2019
Minories made the trip to Milton Keynes in October for the Great Electric Train Show. It was a late evening set up on the Friday, and we only just squeezed between the layouts either side that were already up when we got there. A fault in the wiring on a board (that had worked fine …read more.
Oct 18, 2019
Minories in Hornby Magazine
Minories is in the latest edition of Hornby Magazine, which appeared in my local WH Smiths today. Although planned for some time, the photo shoot only took place in May with editor Mark Wild coming down to Keen House for the shoot. You can see the layout in person at the Great Electric Train show …read more.
Oct 5, 2019
Wagon repair shop on DVD
Back in February, we had a wagon demonstration next to Empire Mills at the Doncaster exhibition. During the show Phil Parker from BRM interviewed Ben W about the wagons he was fettling, and the result is on the DVD that comes with the June edition of the magazine.
May 26, 2018Empire Mills September and October 2017
Little jobs can be very time consuming. Firstly the uncoupling magnets are now powered by a relay, which hopefully means we won’t burn out the switches on the controllers any more. Secondly the uncouplers which were incorrectly identified have now been fixed, so reducing a pernicious source of operator confusion. And finally a mystery short …read more.
Nov 13, 2017
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.
Sep 10, 2017
3 Red Panniers Project – Blog 1: Farewell GWR
Red Pannier Tanks became a standard feature on the London Transport Network until the 70’s. Their small size was ideal for transporting goods across the Sub-surface network, many were seen trundling across the Metropolitan Line in the final years of Steam on the Underground. There has always been something about Panniers that I have found …read more.
Jan 9, 2016