The History of Redditch Model Railway Club

The years of change.

By the late 1980s it had become clear that, for the club to continue to thrive, a new direction was needed. The emphasis shifted away from maintaining a permanent club layout towards building high-quality exhibition layouts that could be taken to shows throughout the country. The first of these was Arrowmouth, a fictitious station set on the former London Midland Region main line near Hest Bank in Lancashire during the mid-1960s. Construction began in 1989, and after three years of dedicated work the layout made its exhibition debut in March 1992. More than three decades later, thanks to regular maintenance, scenic enhancements and continual improvements by club members, Arrowmouth remains an active and popular exhibit on the exhibition circuit. The club's commitment to exhibiting is reflected in its own annual show. The Redditch Model Railway Club staged its first model railway exhibition in 1967, and what began as a modest local event has grown into one of the Midlands' longest-running annual model railway exhibitions, welcoming thousands of visitors and exhibitors over the years. Following the success of Arrowmouth, members embarked on the construction of Gorcott, a slightly smaller layout inspired by the famous Settle & Carlisle Railway. Once again depicting the fascinating steam-to-diesel transition period of the 1960s, Gorcott quickly established itself as another popular exhibition layout. During its exhibition career it appeared at many prestigious shows, including the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC, as well as exhibitions much further afield in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and Ipswich in Suffolk. Alongside an interest in the railways of the North West, the club has long had a special affection for the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, inspired largely by the enthusiasm of our late President, Mick Clements. Over the years this passion has resulted in the construction of four exhibition layouts based on the much-missed cross-country route. The most recent of these is Chilcompton, which made its exhibition debut in February 2001. It is a faithful scale representation of the real Chilcompton station on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, with the track curving away at each end into a shared fiddle yard that also serves the club's Dagnell End, Oakenshaw and Norgrove layouts. Modelling a real location demanded extensive research. Members spent many enjoyable hours studying historic photographs, railway records and maps, together with numerous visits to the former station site to measure surviving structures and record the details needed to recreate the station as accurately as possible. This attention to historical accuracy has become a hallmark of the club's exhibition layouts and reflects the dedication and craftsmanship of its members.

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