New Zealand: Model behaviour: Make your own world in miniature

From NZHerald: Model behaviour: Make your own world in miniature

We were at Model X, the annual hobby show organised by the Western Districts Model Railway Club, when equestrian enthusiast Miss Seven spied the display of model horses.
"Granddad," she said seizing his arm and her chance, "I think I'd like to make a model - a miniature - of what my vet clinic will look like when I'm grown-up and have some of these horses on it."
And that was that. She spent the next six Saturdays with my model-maker father cosseted away in the basement of his North Shore home learning the finer points of measuring to scale, why some glues work more effectively than others, how to use grass textures and ways to create model ponds. The result: a miniature replica - complete with veterinary clinic buildings, a duck pond and a field with two model horses grazing peacefully - of what Super Vet Clinic might look like.
Crafts like knitting and crocheting, baking and cheese-making, and sewing and embroidery have enjoyed a revival so maybe it's time for model-making to take off again. Of course, model-makers will tell you their hobby is alive and well but they acknowledge there are not as many youngsters showing an interest as there once was.

Model-making is a great way to learn practical and life skills and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from creating something - be it from a kitset or scratch. There are lots of model-makers and clubs able to help novices learn the tricks of the trade.
The International Plastic Model Society's Auckland branch could be a great place to start. Like its affiliates worldwide, IPMS Auckland is made up of scale model enthusiasts who want to develop and promote modelling as a hobby and art form. Its website has links to a whole range of groups and the society meets at 7.30pm on the third Tuesday of every month at Leys Institute Library, St Mary's Bay Rd, Ponsonby.
MODEL RAILWAYS
Walking through the door of the Western Districts Model Railway Club's headquarters (in the basement of a former farmhouse building at Te Rangi Hiroa Park in Massey) is akin to entering another world. The entire room is dominated by a model railway with electric trains running through mountain tunnels, past towns and villages, fields and forests and even a port.
Club president Colin Davies says many members have family connections with trains and the railways. They build models to keep alive their family history.
Colin's own father was a coach builder with Great Western Railways in England.
Club night is from 7.30pm on Mondays and enthusiasts gather to see the model trains in action or, alternate Mondays, discuss model-making techniques, share tips and hints, and review the latest news from abroad.
The club is closely affiliated with the Waitakere Modular Railway Group, for those with an interest in N (the distance between the track rails) and HO/OO gauge scale model railways.
They developed a modular system which allows different layouts to be joined and create portable and smaller-scale displays. One of the most popular is, not surprisingly, the Thomas the Tank Engine display.
For more information, see: model-x.org.nz or write to P.O. Box 45033, Te Atatu Peninsula, west Auckland. To find a model railway club in your area, see the New Zealand Model Railways Guild website.
AEROMODELLING
Alan Dick, vice-president of the Papakura Manukau Aeromodellers Club, can't remember a time when he wasn't interested in aeroplanes. The former Air Force engineer designed his home to ensure he would have a workshop with the space to construct his favourite models including a Westland Wyvern and De Havilland Rapide.
Alan spends countless hours building models from scratch and says a lifetime of model building and working on real planes has taught him numerous skills including perseverance and patience. If you don't want to spend so much time scratch building, you can buy plenty of kits that come almost ready to fly, and many modellers now do this.
He flies his remote-controlled models at the PMAC's flying site at the Clevedon Showgrounds, Monument Rd in Clevedon where a variety of different-sized aircraft can fly from a 90m grass strip.
The main club flying day is Sunday, but members also meet on the first Monday of each even month at the Warbirds Clubrooms at Ardmore Airport.
With more than 130 members, the club is an active one which organises and supports specific events throughout the year such as Warbirds over Manukau, electric rally days and aerobatic flying displays.
Alan says age is no barrier to model flying - there are schoolkids and pensioners actively involved - nor is gender, and there are female pilots at the club.
To find out more see: pmac-rc.org or to find a club closer to you, see the website of Model Flying New Zealand (MFNZ). The organisation promotes and protects aeromodelling in New Zealand and carries a range of information about and links to specific branches of aeromodelling such as model jets, vintage aircraft and helicopters.
Park flyers - are a group of enthusiasts who fly smaller electric models in local parks. Their very informative website has all the details plus info about model building. A small plane is typically made from foam of some sort, but not always, is light and electric powered and capable of flying in a public park.
Wingnut Wings - Around a decade ago, film-maker Sir Peter Jackson quietly gave wings to a private passion: creating a new line of accurate and highly-detailed large-scale World War I aircraft models.
The result was - is - Wingnut Wings which provides models to build for both experienced and novice modellers. The models are designed in Wellington by 3D computer modellers employed by Wingnut Wings but the company receives great support from Weta. The models are designed and researched by professionals using original factory drawings whenever possible, historic and contemporary photos, and information supplied by some of the world's leading experts.
Sold solely online, starting from $75.
The Unofficial Wingnut Wings fans Facebook page can be found here. IPMS Auckland, scale model enthusiasts share their latest Wingnut projects.
MECCANO
Meccano is a model construction system where reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears are connected with nuts and bolts to build working models and mechanical devices. From one basic kit, enthusiasts can create a range of models usually limited only by their imagination.
Meccano has been around since 1901 when it was invented by Frank Hornby, who also created Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys. Some 111 years later, it has enthusiasts around the world including Peter Hancock who's the secretary of the Auckland Meccano Guild. The guild holds quarterly meetings in members' homes where visitors are welcome to join in discussions on all things Meccano from building models to its history.
Peter says Meccano used to have the slogan "Meccano hours are happy hours" and that's something he can attest to.
He says a number of guild members build Meccano models to de-stress and forget about the worries of the world.
To find our more see: amg.nzfmm.co.nz or nzfmm.co.nz or email Peter at peter@augustus.co.nz
MINIATURE MAKING
Chances are very few of us will ever get to live in a French chateau or decorate our homes with genuine Edwardian antiques, but Wendy Craig, of the Hibiscus Miniatures Club, knows a way we can experience a slice of that life.
Wendy makes beautiful and elaborately detailed miniature houses and rooms.
A history buff, she immerses herself in a time period, then sets to work replicating, to scale, whole houses and rooms. In the 11 years since she started, Wendy has created a Tudor home, complete with tiny model food laid out for a banquet, an Edwardian house where a mini photo album contains her own much-reduced family photos handed down since the 1880s, and a selection of individual rooms from different eras. She is now working on a retro-style caravan.
For Wendy, the appeal lies in the combination of historical research and interior design.
Miniature making and collecting is an extremely fast-growing hobby in New Zealand and around the world. There are now 24 individually run clubs throughout the country, many of whom belong to umbrella organisation the NZ Association of Miniature Enthusiasts.
The association says the main difference between local and overseas enthusiasts is that in New Zealand, we attempt to learn and build all our houses, shops, box-rooms, furniture and accessories rather than just collecting. There's the old DIY ethos Kiwis are famous for at work!
To find out more see: nzame.org or you can contact Wendy by email at wacraig@clear.net.nz.
Wendy also has a blog.
RADIO CONTROLLED CARS
Ask Trevor Reid, treasurer of the Auckland Radio Controlled Car Club, what he loves about the sport and he doesn't hesitate: "It's an adrenalin buzz".
Racers start with a kitset car which they assemble, paint and fit with the appropriate engines and remote control equipment - the cars are fuel/nitro powered - and then they take it to the race track.
The ARCCC holds its meetings on the first and third Sunday at 10am at its purpose-built off-road track at Saville Drive, on the Otahuhu/Mangere border. Club members race off road 1/8th Nitro IC powered Buggies and Truggies, which can go from 0-60km/h in just three seconds.
Trevor says radio controlled car racers take the sport seriously and are as competitive about it as Formula 1 drivers.
He must love it because, for 20 years, the club has been trying to find a permanent home which, he says, has been challenging and costly. The club hopes to find a new home at the Colin Dale Motorsport Park, an international motorsport venue planned for a venue near Auckland Airport and resume on-road racing. In the meantime, they're racing at Saville Drive and, on Queen's Birthday Weekend, hold the ARCCC Club Championships.
To find out more see: arccc.co.nz or check out the website for the national body, the New Zealand Radio Car Association.
All aboard!
Wanting to learn more about model making, collecting or hobbies in general? Then Model X is for you.
It's billed as an "extravaganza" of hobby activities with exhibitors who are hobby groups, suppliers or individuals passionate about their interests.
Now in its 26th year, Model X started out as a show for model-makers and collectors but has grown to include other hobbyists. This year you can check out Meccano, miniatures, model railways, boats, trucks and emergency services vehicles, plus talk to representatives of local genealogy groups if you want to ``meet'' your ancestors, chat with rockhounds about digging up the past, watch a demonstration of woodturning, learn more about jewellery making, ceramics, green-ware and dolls' house making, study firsthand the intricacies of combustion, heat and steam engines, see if succulents and bonsai planting might be for you, discover the latest about space flight and get chased by a full-sized Dalek or K9 from Dr Who.
Need to know
Model X 2012 Hobby Show: Queen's Birthday Weekend (June 2, 3 and 4), 9am-5pm Saturday & Sunday and 9am-4pm Monday at the West Wave Aquatic Centre, Alderman Drive, Henderson. 

RailsWest Railroad Museum celebrates 25 years

From NonpareilOnline.com: RailsWest Railroad Museum celebrates 25 years

A Council Bluffs train museum that showcases the city’s rich railroading history is making its own history.

The 25th anniversary of the RailsWest Railroad Museum, 16th Avenue and South Main, will be celebrated during June.

“In June of 1987 when it opened, it was just for weekend and special events only,” said Carla Borgaila, museum coordinator. “Obviously, that has changed. The museum is now open 11 months of the year and open six days a week for seven months and five days for the other four months.”

Numerous family events will occur during the month to honor the occasion, she said.

“The events are geared as a way of promoting the community because if not for the community, this wouldn’t be here,” Borgaila said.

Next Saturday and Sunday, a local Model A Club will display their vintage automobiles, Borgaila said. The following weekend, June 9 and 10, members of the GOSOME model train club that keeps a large model train display at the museum will be on hand to offer tips on operating model trains, plus having model trains on sale.

On June 16 and 17, local historical authors and artists will be on hand displaying their works, while the following weekend, June 23 and 24, carnival games will be on hand for the whole family, Borgaila said.

The celebration concludes on June 30 and July 1 with storytelling on the city’s railroad history, she said.

What a history it has been, Borgaila said.

The original depot was completed in 1870 for the Rock Island line, she said. On July 21, 1873, a train took off from there and was stopped and robbed by Jesse James and his gang near Adair – the gang was in Council Bluffs the day before to learn of the train schedule, Borgaila said. Though they didn’t get what they were looking for – the larger amount of money the gang wanted rode out on an earlier train – it was still the first successful moving train robbery west of the Mississippi River, she said.

In 1881, the depot was destroyed when a train came in with a load of dynamite that accidentally exploded. The current depot was finally completed in 1899. It featured a waiting room for women and children, and one for men, who couldn’t venture into the other because of their vulgar language.

Thousands of area soldiers left by rail from there to begin their journey to faraway wars.

The last Rock Island passenger train pulled out from there on May 31, 1970. The last day of operations came on March 31, 1980. In 1985, the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County got the rights to the building from the city and spent the next two years renovating it, Borgaila said. One of the first big events was the appearance of singer Johnny Cash, in town for a concert.

In recent years, the depot has seen more and more visitors, from faraway places and locally, she said. This year alone, 39 school trips have visited the depot and/or the historical Squirrel Cage Jail nearby, Borgaila said.

The museum is open from April through October from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays; from November through March, the hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The museum is closed during January.

I crave your indulgence

My mother's sister is visiting for three days.


My mom's deaf as a post, my dad can't be bothered to get out of his chair, so I will be doing the entertaining - the chauffeuring and the talking and the communicating - for the next three days.


So I'll be posting back here Thursday.


Thanks for your patience.

Pennsylvania: Train museum packed to move

From Altoona Mirror: Train museum packed to move

The platform layouts at the Alto Model Train Museum in the Rockway Building are vast expanses of plywood covered with miniature landscapes - fields, hills, homes and stores - interlaced with tracks.

They're utterly non-portable.

But the museum association will be moving them, because a bank has foreclosed on the building and has begun eviction proceedings.

Museum association members wonder whether they can find suitable space at an affordable cost and doubt their mostly over-70 membership has the manpower to transfer the layouts by the mid-July eviction deadline.
"We've been panicking," said John Curfman, association president. "We just have a lot of stuff to move and no place to move it to. That's our dilemma."

The museum will likely need to scale down, he fears.

First National Bank of Pennsylvania foreclosed against Rockway building owners Gabriel and Roberta Pellegrini recently, according to the Blair County register-recorder's office.

First National acquired the property on Industrial Avenue at 29th Street at sheriff's sale for $15,000, money that covered tax and other liens, according to Leslie Ott, real estate clerk for the sheriff's office.

The Pellegrinis owed the bank $406,000 on the property, which has a market value of $743,000, according to Ott and the register-recorder's office.

Gabe Pellegrini's engineering firm, Innovative Consulting Group, previously headquartered in the building, recently completed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.

On receiving the eviction notice, Curfman tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a deal to stay, offering to pay more rent than the gift-level $2,000 the association has been paying the Pellegrinis for the entire 6,000 square-foot third floor.

"But the [new] owners wanted us out," he said.

More recently, he asked the lawyer representing the bank for an extension, but he didn't get a reply immediately, he said.

The association members are breaking down the platforms to move them, Curfman said.

"They were built piece by piece, and that's how they have to come apart," he said.

He guessed that dismantling and resetting would take 300 man-hours or more.

He estimated it would also cost $2,000 for new materials.

The association can reuse the trains, tracks, buildings and scenery if members dismantle them carefully, he said.

And they can mark the plywood and the accessories to help in recreating the existing layouts, he said.
But it might be more practical just to leave the plywood in place in the Rockway building and start over, especially if a new location doesn't allow for similar configurations, Curfman said.

If the association doesn't locate a new home before the eviction deadline, it could store some layout components temporarily.

"But the trouble with storage is you can tie up an awful lot of money," he said.

The association enlisted a real estate agent a few days ago.

Members were half-expecting eviction and had been scouting for a new location, but not seriously, Curfman said.

But after receiving the letter from the bank's lawyer, "we got real serious," he said.
Members were hoping they could find something downtown, where there's plenty of space available, presumably for a reasonable price.

They've had no luck so far.

"You'd think people with space to rent would rent it cheaper, rather than have it sit empty," Curfman said. "But that doesn't seem to be the case."

Because the association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, renting would create the opportunity for a tax write-off for a landlord, Curfman said.

On Friday, at the museum, Curfman looked over the biggest of the six platforms.

"Can you imagine dismantling all this?" he asked. "My back hurts already."
 

May 12th Is National Train Day

From Forbes, Beth Greenfield Blog: May 12th Is National Train Day
Amtrak may not be perfect—far from it, actually—but I, for one, remain a loyal, longtime fan (especially of the Acela, for which I’ve got plenty of tips for improving your journey). And, come this weekend, National Train Day will bring celebrations and exhibits to communities all across the country to honor the 143rd anniversary of the U.S.’s first transcontinental railway. Major events—with entertainment, model-train displays, interactive exhibits, and tours of Amtrak equipment and luxury private rail cars—are taking place in train stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, as well as in transportation museums and historical societies in more than 150 other towns and cities from coast to coast.

The coolest part, in my opinion, will be the opportunities to climb aboard some historic and private-luxury rail cars, including:

In New York’s Grand Central Station, the restored Amtrak Pullman car Hickory Creek, the 1923 Pullman Kitchi Gammi Club, the private 1922 Cannon Ball, and a 1950 Amtrak sleeper car—as well as an Acela Express, for the uninitiated.

At LA’s Union Station, you can get on the Union Pacific Genset Locomotive, a freight train; a restored 1927 classic steam engine, the Santa Fe No. 3751, listed on the National Register of Historic Places; and the Overland Trail, a 1940 Pullman lounge car.

In Chicago’s Union Station, catch rail cars including the 1948 Silver Chalet, originally built for the Western Pacific Railroad; the Warren R. Henry, built in 1955 for the Union Pacific Railroad’s Portland Rose and refurbished by a Houston businessman in 2004. You can also take a 40-minute ride on one of three Amtrak special excursion trains, including a Superliner Sightseer Lounge. All aboard!

National Train Day chugs through Dallas-Fort Worth on May 12

From Star Telegram: National Train Day chugs through Dallas-Fort Worth on May 12 National Train Day will be celebrated in Fort Worth and Dallas this weekend with educational events. They include the chance to view big locomotives and model train displays, and to talk with train operators and staff and model railroaders. You can take a round-trip ride on the Trinity Railway Express, or watch the Amtrak, TRE and DART Rail trains in action. There will also be free entertainment, balloon art, face-painting and food and drink vendors. Find the complete event schedule online.

National Train Day
10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday
In Fort Worth: Intermodal Transportation Center, 1001 Jones St.
In Dallas: Union Station,
400 S. Houston St.
Free
214-803-7285 ;
www.texasrailadvocates.org or www.nationaltrainday.com.

CA: Railroad ride starts, ends at Grover Beach station

From Times Recorder: Railroad ride starts, ends at Grover Beach station
Central Coast Railroad Festival is expanding its rail excursions on the California Central Coast.

The festival has scheduled a National Train Day Family Excursion starting at and returning to the Grover Beach Train Station on Saturday, May 12.

That same day, a National Train Day Wine Rail Excursion will travel from the Amtrak station in San Luis Obispo to the station in Paso Robles for wine tasting, with a return trip on a private bus.

A special Wine Rail Excursion on June 22 will take guests to the Pomar Junction Train Wreck Friday party in Templeton.

Check-in for the Family Excursion on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Station Grill in Grover Beach, where children will receive free railroad promotional items.

At 12:30 p.m., riders will board the Surfliner, which will deliver passengers to the National Train Day festivities in San Luis Obispo by 1 p.m.

Activities will include railroad art displays and operating model trains from the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Association.

Riders will assemble to reboard the train at 1:40 p.m. for the return trip to the Grover Beach station, where they’ll receive a free ice cream treat from Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab’s big red truck.

Tickets at $25 for adults and $19 for children 15 and younger are available on the Railroad Festival website at www.ccrrf.com.

Those who take the Wine Rail Excursion that day will leave the San Luis Obispo Amtrak Station at 3 p.m. aboard the Coast Starlight for a trip to Paso Robles, where wine tasting and railroad songs and stories from troubadour Don Lampson will be served up at the D’Anbino Tasting Room.

Guests who take a monthly Second Sunday Wine Rail Excursions aboard the Coast Starlight up or down the Cuesta Grade will learn a little railroad history, be served a light lunch and visit rail-related wineries.

The new excursions include a Sunday, May 13, trip that starts in San Luis Obispo and visits Pomar Junction Winery; a Sunday, June 10, trip that starts in Paso Robles and visits D’Anbino Tasting Room and Pomar Junction Winery; and a Sunday, July 8, trip that starts in San Luis Obispo and visits Pomar Junction Winery.

Wine Rail Excursions, limited to 24 people, are $49 for adults and $39 for children 15 and younger and usually sell out in advance.

The special excursion offered Friday, June 22, will start at 3 p.m. in San Luis Obispo aboard the Coast Starlight to Paso Robles. The cost for this trip is $39 per person.

A private bus will take guests to Pomar Junction for a barbecue, wine tasting and rockin’ blues from the Brad Wilson Band and then back to San Luis Obispo.

Tickets and complete schedules are available on the Railroad Festival website.

For more information, call the festival office at 773-4173.

Hobo’s Bash to mark life on rails
Oceano Depot is planning a Hobo’s Bash to celebrate the colorful culture of itinerant individuals who once rode the rails across America.

The fundraising event set for Saturday, May 19, at the Oceano Depot, 1650 Front St., will begin at

2 p.m. with a social hour.

A dinner to be served at 3 p.m. will include “hobo stew and all the trimmings,” plus dessert and a soft drink, coffee or tea, said Oceano Depot Association President Linda Austin.

Prizes will be awarded for the best hobo costumes, Austin said.

The event also will include live music, operating model trains from the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Association and prize drawings.

More information and tickets at $25 per person are available by calling 489-5446 or 440-9994

Exhibit at event marks Amtrak’s 40th anniversary

From the Toledo Blade: Exhibit at event marks Amtrak’s 40th anniversary
In 1971, the newly created Amtrak was generally viewed from one of two angles: the salvation of passenger trains in the United States, or an orderly funeral to phase them out. Forty-one years later, "America's Railroad" is still running, operating trains in 46 of the 50 states despite frequent budget battles in Washington, philosophical debates about its existence, and countless Jay Leno jokes about its trains' uneven on-time performance and occasional involvement in accidents. That history is recounted in an Amtrak 40th Anniversary exhibit train that has toured the United States since last May 7 and makes its penultimate stop in Toledo today as the centerpiece of this year's local National Train Day event. Through a mix of memorabilia, pictures, advertising, models, and full-scale dioramas, the train's three exhibit cars trace, in chronological order, Amtrak's run from its 1971 startup as the successor to passenger trains previously run by private railroad companies to its current-day operation of 150-mph Acela Express speedsters in the Northeast and cross-country overnight trains with dining and sleeping car service. "It's just interesting how much polyester there was in the 1970s," Derrick James, Amtrak's director of government affairs and corporate communications, quipped concerning the uniforms Amtrak attendants and dining-car staff wore during the company's startup years.

Amtrak's early uniforms and car decor featured the Disco Era's vivid colors, which also served to distance Amtrak from the gloomy, austere final years of private passenger-train operation.

"We always knew that Amtrak's survival was not a foregone conclusion," Paul Reistrup, the company's president from 1974 to 1978, said in Amtrak: An American Story, an Amtrak-published history that is among commemorative merchandise offered in the exhibit train's gift shop. "The Nixon administration considered it an experiment and might have let it pass if the 1973 energy crisis had not awakened people to the need for transportation alternatives."

A desire to promote passenger trains as an alternative to driving or flying is the driving force behind National Train Day, too, said Bill Gill, a regional coordinator for the advocacy group All Aboard, Ohio and the Toledo event's chairman.

"A lot of people in our region are not aware we have the beautiful Amtrak station and four trains a day that come through here," Mr. Gill said. Building awareness, he said, can make the existing trains useful to more people and foster support for better passenger train service in Toledo's future.

"We'll get thousands of people down here who have never ridden a train before," said Dave Gedeon, the director of commuter services at the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, a National Train Day co-sponsor. "We still have hopes in the future of the Toledo community becoming a high-speed [rail] route," he added.

Along with the exhibit train -- which actually arrived Thursday and was set up Friday for visitors today -- Amtrak will offer tours of Superliner passenger train cars currently in use on many of its long-distance trains, and a Norfolk Southern freight locomotive will be on display.

Inside the train station at Martin Luther King, Jr., Plaza, National Train Day Toledo will feature rail-related displays, live music, food, and prize drawings. Several model train layouts will be operating, and "Engineer Steve" will give hourly, youth-oriented safety presentations.

Steve Rathke, a Norfolk Southern engineer from Springfield Township, said he began his "Engineer Steve" presentations at area Safety Town events after one of several car-train collisions during his railroad career.

"People, both young and old, have misconceptions surrounding trains and railroad tracks," Mr. Rathke said. "I feel that clearing up these misconceptions and educating the public is one way that I can make a difference. .… With the help of Engineer Teddy, a stuffed bear dressed exactly like an engineer, we talk to the kids at their level. As a group, we watch a cartoon and sing songs about what we learned."

National Train Day will start at 9:30 a.m. with opening remarks by several local and railroad dignitaries, including Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and Paul Toth, president of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, which owns and renovated the then-crumbling Toledo train station during the mid-1990s. Tours and displays will be open to the public until 4 p.m. Admission is free.

England: Junior model railway club

From Fenland Citizen: Junior model railway club
MARCH and District Junior Model Railway Club is still going strong after moving to the new rooms at March Railway Station in September last year.

Club leader Gary Christy said this has allowed the club to meet earlier at a more suitable time for school nights and to expand. Said Gary: “The Junior Club is now up to eight members with two additional full-time helpers and we successfully gained a Fenland District Council Youth Grant for £500 last December to build a new layout.

“Other than the grant, the Junior Club is totally self-funding through a small subscription charge but mainly from donations of unwanted model railway items and toys, most of which we use but some are sold at online auctions to raise funds.

“We are also grateful to the Friends of March Railway Station who allow us to use the rooms for a modest donation and Ridgeons who have supported us with the purchasing materials for our layouts.”

The Junior Club meets every other Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8pm in the Station Rooms along Platform 2 of March Railway Station.

“We do currently have places available and would like to welcome new members between the ages of seven and 16,” added Gary, who can be contacted on 01354-653045 or via email on gary@christy.org.uk for more information.

“If anyone has any model railway-related items they wish to donate to the club we would be very grateful or if anyone has some trains that have not been run for a while they can get in contact to bring them along to run them on our layout,” said Gary.