Georges River Model Railway Club, which operates out of East Hills Baptist Church on the second and third Fridays of the month, 7-10pm, has a growing membership of about 20.
Club secretary Peter Tonks says model trains are popular because historically, trains were the first avenue of bringing people together across the vast countryside of various nations.
Presently, model trains bring people together across generational lines, teaching children about the world how it was before them.
And so it was for Peter as a child.
“My Dad bought us a standard 8ft by 4ft board but we weren’t allowed to play with it unless he was supervising,” he said.
“I’ve still got a lot of the rolling stock (anything on wheels) and layout (a diorama containing a scale track for operating trains) but I didn’t join a club until we moved to East Hills in 1993.”
Enjoying plenty of success, the club took out the award for Best New Layout in 2019 at The Great Train Show at Rosehill Gardens for their Wingello layout, where the station buildings were built from styrene and are replicas of the actual buildings at Wingello (a Southern Highlands village).
Members are now developing an Oberon to Tarana layout, in reality 21km, to present at the Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway Society’s 100th anniversary celebration of the track which has been disused since 1979 but could reopen soon for tourists.
Peter says new members are always welcome.
“We just charge a gold coin at each meeting to cover refreshments,” he said.
For further info, call 0409 735 451.