About Us
Welcome to the Glasgow & West Of Scotland Model Railway club website where we hope you will find everything you are looking for today. The club was formed in the 1930’s when railway modelling was becoming a popular hobby. Since then the club has grown and evolved into what it is today, a friendly place to enjoy the hobby to the full, whatever your skills.
We aim to promote the hobby to the full and help our members and other modellers in any way we can, in order to to build model railway layouts and run them to the highest possible standard.
Club members model the 1950s and 1960s British steam and green diesel era in both N gauge and 00 gauge, BR Blue and modern day in OO, and recently we are getting into the 1930s LMS.
Our clubroom is just 10 minutes walk from Drumchapel station in an industrial estate area. Our main meetings are on Sundays, typically between 2:00 and 5:30. We regularly attend exhibitions throughout the year.
ABOUT THE CLUB
The Glasgow & West of Scotland MRC was one of the original four model railway clubs in Scotland founded in the early twentieth century. The earliest recorded reference to the club is in the Railway Journal in 1935.
We were one of the founding members of the Association of Model Railway Societies in Scotland (AMRSS), which organises one of the UK's premier model railway exhibtions, Model Rail Scotland at the SEC every February.
Fraser Ross and George Rountree, two former members of the club, have given us a lot of information on the club's history and a list of members who were prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. These were:
Bill Sanderson, Bill McMillan (Owner of McMillan Models), John Brown, George McArthur (Caley George), James McGinty, Graham McLachlan, Neil Clark (NB Neily), Bob Alexander and others.
Originally the club was not an open club; you had to be invited to join. The club modelled in those days in purely 4mm fine scale, using code 75 rail with all the points being hand built. One of the earliest references to the then group in the press was the announcement of a model railway exhibition to raise money for the Rotary Club. It was held and underwritten by the late Billy McMillan with:
Glasgow & West Of Scotland MRG
Edinburgh & Lothians MRC
Eastbank School MRC &
Kirkintilloch Miniture Engineering Society (Later to become Kirkintilloch MRC).
The Exhibition was a major success and was soon to be renamed Model Rail Scotland.
After changing from Invite only in the 1970s to open membership, the club produced a two level layout 30 feet by 12 feet called "Earnbank". This layout featured in the Railway Modeller of Jan or Feb 1970 or 1971. (Do you have this edition? If so, please get in touch). This layout was the largest around at the time, and took a great deal of concentration to operate. Both levels had a double track mainline and goods yards, with the bottom level having a station with two through lines and a bay platform. Much of the point work was hidden, and it was regular for one of the through express trains to be accidentally routed to the bay platform and demolish the buffers! Where the two levels met, was nicknamed the ploughed field. This was actually a double junction with the track power controlled by the signalling. Remember, this was before the wonders of electronics, and many trains where helped on their way with a prod and a prayer. Ironically, Railway Modeller magazine sat on the article about the layout for so long that Earnbank was scrapped before the article was published in the magazine.
At the exact same time, another magazine, this time Model Railway Constructor, published an article on the construction of the club’s new branch line layout called "Kirkton" with photos taken by Fraser Ross. Kirkton reached new heights in fine scale modelling, and was considered one of the finest layouts in Scotland at the time, featuring for the first time ever, working lower quadrant signals. The layout was last seen in the early 1990s at an exhibition in England, still with the same electrical fault it had when it was sold.