Monthly Club News
December 2017 :
Work this month has continued on
our Smallwood layout with lights being installed in a
number of the buildings. Also we have made some scenery
improvements to Arrowmouth following some very slight
damage to one of the corner boards. To prevent the
damage happening again we are finally after over 25
years of exhibiting the layout making some covers for
the sections of scenery on the corner boards that are
exposed when the layout is transported. Due to heavy
snow the club did not meet on Tuesday 12th December
November 2017:
Work this month is concentrating on
preparing for the Warley show at the end of the month
and adding the remainder of the backscene to our
Smallwood layout. We had an enjoyable weekend at the
Warley Model Railway Exhibition over the weekend of the
25th and 26th November with our display stand and our
Arrowmouth layout. Once again we incorporated our Barrie
Island into the display which was very well received by
the visitors.
October 2017 :
Following excitement of our annual
model railway show in September we have gone back to
improving our Smallwood layout and getting our
Chilcompton layout ready for the Great Electric Train
Show. We had a great weekend exhibiting our Chilcompton
layout at the Great Electric Train Show over the weekend
of the 7th and 8th October. We finished the month off by
exhibiting our Buckshee layout at the Castres Model
Railway Exhibition over the weekend of the 28th and 29th
October 2017 in the South of France. This involved a
journey each way of over 852 miles by road and sea.
September 2017:
We staged our 50th Anniversary Redditch
Model Railway Exhibition over the weekend of the 17th
and 18th September and thank you to all that attended.
The exhibition proved to be one our best attended show
in recent years.
August 2017 :
Work this month is very much centered around getting
ready for our September exhibition including getting
Smallwood ready for the event. On Saturday 26th August
we took our Buckshee layout to the Bournville Model
Railway Exhibition.
July 2017 : This
website is now 18 years old. More
of the same work continues on our Smallwood layout.
June 2017 : On
Thursday 1st June the club finally reached its 50th
Anniversary. We had our normal club night just like that
first night meeting starting as usual at 1930. During
the evening at around 2100 the time the Club was
actually formed we cut a cake. This was done by Mick
Clements who was also there 50 years ago when the club
was formed. Mick is the Club President and has also been
Club Treasurer from day one a record for any model
railway club !! The Club's Annual General Meeting on
Tuesday 6th June once again provided few surprises and
the Committee where re-elected without change for a
further twelve months. On Thursday 8th June a many of
the club members spent a day on the Severn Valley
Railway where we had chartered one of the former GWR
Inspection Saloons for the day as part of our 50th
Anniversary celebrations.
May 2017 : We
start the month with more work on our Smallwood layout.
In the June 2017 edition of Railway Modeller
magazine there is a feature article on 50 years of Redditch Model
Railway Club. On Wednesday 25th May it was a significant
milestone for Redditch Model Railway Club as 8 people
met at the White Hart pub in Headless Cross exactly 50
years ago. They met again the following week on Thursday
1st June 1967 and that night they formed the Redditch
Model Railway Club.
April 2017 :
Work continues on our Smallwood Layout with much of the
ballasting is now complete. This week we have had our
head in the clouds with our Smallwood layout as the sky
painting on the backscenes and it really gives
the layout some depth of field when it is viewed. We had
a great weekend in the company of Westerns, Class 50's
and Class 20's in the diesel shed at the Severn Valley
Railway exhibiting our Oakenshaw layout on the 8th and
9th April and two weeks latter on the 22nd and 23rd
April at the Sutton Coldfield show where once also
showed our Oakenshaw layout and was voted best in show.
March 2017:
Work continues on our Smallwood
layout. The block of flats for the town on the layout
has been completed as has the ballasting of the track in
the station area.
On Sunday 26th March we took our Buckshee layout to the
Aston Transport Museum at Aldridge for their models in
the museum event.
February 2017:
We started this month by ensuring
all the track joints over the baseboard joints were
soldered and the track was cut so for the first time for
a couple of year our Smallwood layout has been split
into its 4 separate baseboards. This is allowing the
wiring to be completed.
January 2017:
We start 2017 and our 50th
Anniversary year with work continuing
on our Smallwood layout. Work currently
is concentrating on
the backscenes and the lighting unit above the layout.
This lighting unit will be the first in 50 years for our club as
to date we have never built a layout with an integrated lighting
unit above the scenic parts. Up to now all our
exhibition layouts
have had separate lights.
We are also making improvements to the station canopy
glazing and working on some of the buildings for the layout.