The Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales.
Kit building brass Mk1 coaches – before the RTR versions arrive
The Great Northern (King’s Cross) suburban services in the 1950s-70s were characterised by the ‘short’ Mark 1 non-gangway coaches – normally hauled by Class 31 diesels. The majority of coaches and trains were formed of compartment third/second class coaches, as manufactured for several years by Bachmann in OO, and these would have formed the bulk …read more.
Dec 28, 2023
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
PGA – Repaint programme
Having satisfied myself that the adaption of the Lima wagon to EM works, I decided to move on to painting. I had a pretty wide selection of bodies and existing liveries, which would easily show through new paint. So first job was a good soak in IPA – not the Greene King from the bar, …read more.
Dec 29, 2020
Updating Lima PGAs – Suspension and Pedestals
I’m gently building some rakes of block freight that might run around the outskirts of London in the late 70s / early 80s, taking advantage of some of the more recent high quality releases like Accurascale’s PTA/JUA stone wagons, but also going back and assembling collections of older models as I find them cheaply. …read more.
Dec 26, 2020
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
Class 20 conversion to EM – with Gibson wheels
In the latest of the blogs on straight forward conversions of OO to EM gauge, this is a conversion of a Class 20 using the Alan Gibson pack of wheels and new axles -available direct or via the EM Gauge Society. The conversion pack is suitable for the Bachmann Class 20 & 25 and the …read more.
Jul 12, 2020
Regauging a Replica chassis to EM
The Replica Railways powered chassis is a good product, that makes building EMU and DMU kits much easier, with a good motor and drive system picking up from and powering all 8 wheels. It could be used for example on the MLV and Class 455 projects Chris has described. It come as three options, with …read more.
Jun 27, 2020
Minories Fiddle Yard Control Panel
Every layout needs a control panel – well all of mine do because I haven’t progressed from DC control as I find traditional DC control still works perfectly well and I’m not too bothered about lights and loco sound. The extension of the fiddle yard on Minories meant a new fiddle yard control panel …read more.
Jun 20, 2020
Track Building – Part 2
In Part 1, I outlined the plan to build new track and points in EM gauge for Minories for the expanded fiddle yard. Here’s how it went, starting off with how it ended up – the full sized layout up in the library at Keen House. Most of this track building work took place in …read more.
May 31, 2020
Building Trapezium Baseboards for Minories
The classic Minories layout is a terminus to fiddle yard design – and that is what we built back in 2007 and how the layout has operated for many years. With a good team of operators we’ve presented a slick service of peak hour trains running in and out of the station’s three platforms at …read more.
May 23, 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
Converting a Hornby Class 101 to EM Gauge
I’ve already got a blue Class 101 DMU for Minories. which was re-wheeled several years ago. This is the equivalent model in green, which I bought at a price it was difficult to refuse as part of a batch of stock that looked a bit mucky, presumably after being left out for a long time …read more.
Apr 21, 2020