Newbury Model Railway Club

The Club has its origins in the mid 1970s at the local Police Station where a group of officers with an interest in railways decided to form a Model Railway Section within the Sports & Social Club. Membership for non police personnel was restricted initially and was by invitation only. The first layout Tenpy, an OO scale continuous layout was completed during this period and exhibited several times at local model shows.

By the mid 1980s (1985?) with the passage of time and the promotion and relocation of various officers, the non-police members eventually out numbered the others and it became no longer appropriate to be based at the Police Station. Alternative accommodation was found at the local TA Centre and the Club reformed as the Newbury Model Railway Club with a committee & constitution. For the first time new members could be actively sought. With more storage space available and a growing membership, a wider range of modelling interests could now be accommodated. Groups were soon working on N, OO HO and O gauge projects. In 1988 we held our first annual Exhibition at the Waterside Centre in Newbury. These annual exhibitions have been held every year since to fund the hire of our premises and new projects. In 1994 the venue of our annual exhibition was changed to St. Bartholomews School to allow us space for more exhibits. In 2007 we moved the exhibition to Newbury College which offers better facilities.

With the changing military policies our tenure at the TA Centre was terminated when the Centre was scheduled for closure. After several months searching for new premises, the Wash Common Community Centre was selected as a suitable venue. Meetings stared at Wash Common in July 1995. We were allowed to bring the shed we had been forced to construct at the TA Centre when the storage space there had become restricted and the opportunity was taken to enlarge it to take the growing numbers of layouts. It was enlarged again some years later when we were requested to move it to the opposite side of the Centre to allow access for a Portakabin to be sited behind the Centre. We took over the ownership of the Portakabin in 2003 which has enabled modelling activities to take place outside our normal Friday evening meetings.

The club layouts which have been exhibited at quite a few Shows in the area include Rugely OO, Templefield OO; Pacific & North Western HO, Exdale O/16.5, Chilton O and the OO & O gauge test tracks. Several members private layouts have also attended various exhibitions.