About Twickenham & District MRC
TWICKENHAM & DISTRICT MRC was established in 1961.
A small group of modellers met informally at Joe Hodgson’s Toy and Model Shop in Whitton, where they decided it was a good idea to form a model railway club.
Today, approximately seventy modellers enjoy membership of the Twickenham & District Model Railway Club. This page is an overview of our history, facilities and activities.
Brief History:
Having formally established Twickenham & District MRC, membership grew quickly. A clubroom, initially located in the centre of Richmond, was established to hold meetings and build layouts.
Major redevelopment of the town centre, combined with our growing membership, resulted in the club moving to the Parkshot Adult College for our regular Friday meetings and several very successful exhibitions.
A further, but unexpected, move occured in 2004 to our present home, ‘Kerswell Hall’ in Whitton.
Club Location:
‘Kerswell Hall’ is home of the 1st Whitton Scouts in Wills Crescent. With the Scouts enthusiastic support, we have provided external secure storage with level access to our shared club room for the layouts. Disabled access to the Twickenham & District MRC club room is available, please contact the secretary if you have any concerns.
Activities:
Layout building and operation is our main activity. Over the decades we have had a vibrant and skilled membership responsible for creating award winning layouts and simpler, ‘fun’ layouts. All have helped less skilled modellers to become proficient and valued members of the club.
Most of our layouts represent various aspects of British railways, both standard and narrow gauge types.
Should your interests lie elsewhere; Chinese, American, Japanese and European Railways or Trams, – they are all part of our member’s interests. Your models are welcome on any of the layouts within the club.
From time to time we arrange club outings and social events, whilst a mini-exhibition is usually held in late summer to showcase our activities.
Layouts:
We have several layouts that are either operational, or under construction. They are described in detail on the Layout pages. All layouts are portable and are stored on wheeled trollys, greatly reducing manual handling.
Rationalisation of older projects has enabled us to provide space in our storage unit for new 00 and N layouts. These are at the planning stages or under discussion.
A prized possesion of Twickenham & District MRC is a large Multi-gauge running track. This comprises five circular, continuous run circuits. providing about twelve different gauges ranging from ‘Z’ to ‘G’. Three rail operation in 32mm and 16.5mm gauges is possible. This versatile and very popular facility is ideal for testing locomotives and stock. DC and DCC controllers are provided. This track is normally operational on three Fridays per month.
Exhibitions:
Over the years Twickenham & District MRC has gained an enviable reputation for building several award winning layouts, that have been exhibited throughout the UK and western Europe.
Exhibiting can be an exciting change from the usual cub room activities. Two of our current layouts attend exhibitions, as do a small number of members personal layouts. Active participation with exhibitions is an open-door to gaining inspiration, new ideas or alternative techniques. They are hard work, but good fun as well,
For exhibiton operation, trains are selected to fit with the layout theme, but in the clubroom members may run any of their own stock, on any compatible layout.
We no longer hold our own exhibition as venue hire costs are prohibitive. As an alternative, we have an annual open day
Open Days:
We no longer hold our own exhibition due to the prohibitive costs of venue hire, but do have an annual Club Open Day each year. This takes place usually at the end of July. On fine weather days we are able to expand the space we have at the club, taking advantage of the grass area, and adjoining building for displays of club and members modelling.
Look out for this year’s date on this website.
Support:
Open Days and other events are often only possible with assistance. In particular, we are grateful for the continued support of 1st Whitton Scouts, whose premises we use, and to Richardsons Models in Feltham.
Membership:
Annual membership is £76 per annum. Reduced rates for several categories are available and payments may be spread throughout the year. With one exception, we make no other membership charges.
Saturday work and running days are periodically held. A £5 donation is requested, to cover the additional hall hire costs, and applies only if attending.
Our members have a varied mix of skills and abilities and are always willing to offer advice or assistance. We admit that we don’t have all the answers, but you may well be able to help us.
No self respecting model railway club is complete without a kitchen for tea, coffee and snacks to lubricate the chat – ours is no exception!
For more information, check out the contacts page and get in touch. We would love to hear from you.