The Manchester Model Railway Society

We are the third oldest model railway society in the world with clubrooms in Sale, South West Manchester, postcode M33 6HL.  These are at ‘Dean Hall’ which is on Mersey Road, just off the A56 and about half a mile from junction 7 of the M60.
The Society has been in existence since 1925 and we have owned our own clubroom building since 1969.

You can see details of our 90th birthday celebrations in 2015 here

Members busy refurbishing Granada Television’s layout which featured in Coronation Street and which made a special guest appearance at our exhibition in December 2015.

Please go to the Exhibition page for information on this year’s show.

Dean Hall

     

This is home to 6 model railway layouts on two floors, one layout is complete and the other 5 are in various stages of construction/completion (is a layout ever fully finished?!)

 
As a member you are welcome to come and run your own locos and rolling stock on the completed layouts, please have a look at these in more detail in our ‘layouts’ section.
Volunteers are always welcome to help with the layouts under construction.
All the locos and rolling stock are owned by club members who take them home again after running sessions. No models remain in the clubrooms.
And we don’t discriminate in terms of era, region, or even country.  Even the Great Western is welcomed (although maybe not by all). But joking aside you really can run whatever you want, within reason of course, bearing in mind that most layouts have finescale hand built track.
The Granada TV news report some months ago even shows a USA Union Pacific FP7 express and a Metrolink Tram on Dewsbury Midland!
A typical Monday evening (OO running night)  finds about 5 – 10 members using Dewsbury, and we’re always interested to see what newer members bring to run, there’s always room for another train or two!

The Library

  
Our Library has one of the most comprehensive collections of railway material in the country and is available for reference and borrowing.  We have books and dvds as well as magazines and photographs.  The Library computer has a large collection of images which have been scanned in from photographs and drawings.

We purchase a copy of all the main monthly model railway magazines and some obscure ones too, together with some modern image and heritage railway magazines, so we have a very wide range of current reading/browsing material in the library at all times.
This means that members don’t need to buy the magazines themselves, unless of course you’d like your own copy to keep at home, in which case the Society may be able to obtain a discounted copy for you.
The value of accessing a dozen or more different magazines throughout the year and access to our extensive range of books must be worth the membership fee on its own.

Workshop

Our well-equipped workshop is available for use by those with the requisite skills.  The more expert members are always willing to pass on their knowledge with classes on using the lathe, building construction, beginners’ and advanced soldering techniques, producing drawings for etching.

The workshop has a lathe, pantograph milling machine, vertical drilling machines, grindstones and hand tools.  Experienced members will give tuition in the safe use of these machines – please see the Membership page for more details.

We also have items which you may want to try out before committing to purchase your own, for example a riveting tool, bending bars and a Noch Grassmaster.

Ground Floor & Monthly Meetings

We have a monthly meeting which is held at 7.30pm on the second Friday or 2.30pm on the second Saturday of the month (see home page – forthcoming events). We have a varied programme of illustrated talks, demonstrations of modelling techniques and film shows geared towards the interests of railway modellers and enthusiasts.
The ground floor of the club houses 4 layouts. On the above photo Slattocks P4 is on the right with Hazelwood N gauge at the far wall. Out of sight in the rear left hand section are Greenbrier Junction the large USA HO layout which is well advanced, and our new modular layout Barton Road representing Trafford Park container traffic.

Upstairs

The upper floor is given over completely to our two largest layouts: Mersey Division O gauge around the outside walls, and OO gauge Dewsbury Midland in the central space.  More details on the Layouts page.

Refreshments!

Dean Hall is centrally heated and we have a fully fitted kitchen for tea, coffee and light refreshments. 

Our History Documented

One of our members, Frank Gordon, has produced a book charting the history of the Manchester Model Railway Society from its inception in 1925 through to its 90th anniversary celebrations in 2015.

A fascinating and detailed history of the Society and indeed model railways in general, this shows why the club and its members  have been at the forefront of railway modelling so long.

A softback A4 size book available as follows:-

• Black & White £15.00.  Colour £50.00.  P&P  £4.00.
• Orders and enquiries to treasurerht@mmrs.co.uk.

Directions

from the M60 travel south-west along the A56 and turn right into Mersey Road.

The clubrooms are about 150 yards up Mersey Road, on the left hand side, on the corner of Mersey Road and Somerset Place. Our car park at the rear of the club is accessed from Somerset Place.

We currently have over 100 members, many of whom live in different parts of the UK and two live abroad.
Prospective members are always welcome; please have a look at the membership page for more details.