South Caernarfonshire Model Railway Group
South Caernarfonshire Model Railway Group has been running for just over five years now and has an active membership drawn from the Caernarfon, Bangor and Anglesey areas.
SCMRG held two successful model railway exhibitions at Penmorfa Village Hall in 2003 and 2004 to raise funds for the club and promote the club to other local enthusiasts. We held a successful model railway exhibition at the new Galeri Centre in Caernarfon on Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th and Bank Holiday Monday 30th May 2005. Unfortunately, our planned show for 2006 was cancelled due to rising costs of the hire of the rooms at the Galeri and the decision by Caernarfon Town Council to impose a £5 parking fee on the car park outside the Galeri Centre.
News 02/01/07 - SCMRG held a Railway and Craft Show in December 2006 to raise funds for the 'Chernobyl Children's Lifeline Appeal' and the proceeds raised from the show were donated to the local Appeal organiser. The appeal funds allow aid and medicine to be sent to Belarus for the children and to bring child victims of the Chernobyl disaster to the UK for recuperative breaks of 1 month - over 44,000 have been brought over to stay with host families since 1992.
SCMRG will continue to support other local clubs in North Wales and the North West.
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The club meets on a Wednesday night each week at the privately owned clubrooms. The meetings are very informal and members are encouraged to help in the modelling of the layouts. Video and slide shows are occasionally held at Peter Midwinter's home residence.
If you would
like to arrange to visit the club then please ring Peter Midwinter on 01286
882332 during the daytime or early evening
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The club has three main operating layouts owned by club founder Peter Midwinter.
The first layout is "Porth Eithin" which is an ex-GWR branchline set near the coast on the River Tal Eithin. The main source of traffic on the branchline is China Clay for the nearby docks. Here the clay is loaded into ships. Since its first appearance at Wigan show in 2002 the layout has been exhibited many times and even made an appearance at the Swindon 150 Exhibition in September 2004. This layout is built to 'OO' gauge finescale standards. A mini-review of the layout can be seen in the June 2005 issue of ModelRail magazine and a full article will follow in the November 2005 issue. This layout is available for exhibitions.
The second layout is "Kingswear for Dartmouth" which was originally built about six years ago and is loosely based on the real Dartmouth railway station albeit with a few minor alterations. This is also a 'OO' scale layout to finescale standards. Formerly owned by Colin Brown, this layout has been brought by Peter Midwinter to complement "Porth Eithin". This layout can be operated in GWR/BR steam days or the early diesel eras of the late 1960s. This layout is available for exhibitions.
Our third layout is based on "Port Penrhyn" near Bangor. This will model the slate transhipment quays where both narrow gauge and standard gauge lines can be seen.
Another new layout which is in the development is "Abersarn" which is based on the real Abegele & Pensarn and will depict a four track mainline which was originally owned and operated by the LMS but with through running powers by the GWR. This is currently under development.
SCMRG is also the custodian of an 'O' gauge layout "Waterley Cross" which was loaned to the group by a local model railway enthusiast. The layout has been refurbished and rewired with new Seep point motors and Gaugemaster controllers. The layout was originally based on Dinas Mawddwy and depicts a small country terminus with a single platform, run-round loop and goods sidings and facilities. This layout is available for exhibitions.