In the late 1980s it became clear that the club needed to move forward to survive and the emphasis of activities changed from the permanent layout to the building of our first exhibition layout - Arrowmouth, which is based in the 1960s on the Hest Bank area. It was started in 1989, attended its first exhibition in March 1992 and, thanks to a refreshing of the scenery and track work together with regular attention from the members, it is still on the exhibition circuit today. In 1967 the Redditch Model Railway Club staged its first model railway exhibition in Redditch, and this has now become an annual fixture of our calendar. The 2007 show was staged on the weekend of February 10th and 11th at Redditch Town Hall, and it will be at the same venue on February 9th and 10th 2008.

After the construction of Arrowmouth the Club went on to build Gorcott, a slightly smaller Settle and Carlisle-based layout. Like Arrowmouth, the era of this layout is very much 1960s, featuring the steam to diesel transition era. Like Arrowmouth, Gorcott is very much still on the exhibition circuit and has been exhibited at shows as nearby as the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC and as far away as Wakefield in West Yorkshire, and Ipswich in Anglia. As well as homing in on the north west in the 1960s, club projects have also taken on a Somerset and Dorset Railway theme through the enthusiasm for this much-lamented cross-country line of Mick Clements.

We have built a total of four exhibition layouts based on an S&D theme. The latest is Chilcompton, which was first exhibited in February 2001 and is a scale representation of the real station on the S&DJR with curves at each end to reach the fiddle yard which is shared with Gorcott. Modelling a prototype has meant many happy hours researching it including a number of field visits to both measure and photograph what is left of the real station site today.

In 2004 the Club took the brave decision to create a totally new model railway exhibition. After searching for a suitable location without success, the club found the Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre in Kings Heath in South Birmingham, which is an ideal venue because of its proximity to the M42/M40 motorways and its 16,500 sq ft halt which allows the whole show to be contained within one room. The Club held the first Birmingham Model Railway Exhibition in September 2005, and it has developed into a high quality and friendly show with a good reputation. The 2007 Birmingham Model Railway Exhibition took place on September 15/16 2007 at the Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre and included iconic layouts such as Charwalton, Dainton Bank and Halston Junction forming part of the 18 layout line-up with 20 trade stands alongside. 

However, we now have 24 hour access to our club rooms with the option to load and unload vans under cover when we take layouts out to shows, but most importantly we have space to build new layouts and develop our existing exhibition projects. The move to the industrial estate has also seen us encourage a handful of new members and productivity has increased as we now meet twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings - after all, we are paying for the clubroom so why not use it?

We don't usually have a layout up and running on club nights, but we are an active group of modelers and regularly spend the evenings building buildings and scenic items for our current project, Dagnell End. This new fictitious layout is based on the former LSWR Hounswell Loop line in London and features, with a little modeler's license, a working London Underground line across the front of the layout. Construction of the layout started slowly in 1998, but Club Members have also built Chilcompton and refurbished the scenery on both our Arrowmouth and Gorcott layouts since then. The Club now has a self-imposed deadline to complete Dagnell End in time for an appearance at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition in 2009, but before then it is planned to exhibit it at the fifth Birmingham Model Railway Exhibition in September 2009. As a club we are always open to new members and, whilst we might not always have trains running, there are always plenty of projects to get involved whatever your modelling abilities. We've got an exciting future ahead with three layouts to maintain and Dagnall End under construction, so why not get in touch and join the team?