Full steam ahead as Scarborough and District Railway Modellers exhibition returns

Mayor and Mayoress Eric and Lynne Broadbent with Liam Denham and Organiser Ian Harper at the exhibition.

The Scarborough and District Railway Modellers Exhibition returned on April 23 and 24 for the first time in three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ian Harper, organiser of the event and exhibition manager, said: “It went very well. Very successful. We had a good turnout of people from all over.

“It was busy, particularly on Saturday. The Mayor and Mayoress came to open the show and say a few words. They were very impressed with all of the model railway layouts that were on show.

“We had 10 model railway layouts and a couple of demonstrations were done on how to make things such as buildings and parts of the layout. We also had a couple of traders.

“We had quite a lot of youngsters come in, which was good. We had a little layout there that was available for them to run by pressing a button, and that went down very well with the children. We tried to get them involved. I mean, we have our own layout and the one that I'm involved with myself, we got the children to come go on it with us on the controls so they could sound the whistles and move the engines around.”

Scarborough and District Railway Modellers Club has been running in Scarborough since 1978.

They used to do shows in Scarborough, but due to costs, they ended up just putting shows on in Pickering.

In 2018, the club had their 40th Anniversary show at Scalby Hall. Due to the success of this show, the club wanted to run a normal show but ended up not being able to do this due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ian Harper said: “We did a 40th anniversary show in 2018 at the Scalby Hall, where we are based now, which was really successful.

“We decided we'd do another one, as a normal show. With Covid, of course, we've been locked out for two years. So we've had three years before we've been able to do anything.

“It was the same at Pickering as well. So this year was a first for us as a normal show. But we were very very pleased with the way everything's gone.”

The exhibitions help the club keep running, as the proceeds go towards their rent, insurance and electricity costs. They also help get other people interested in the hobby.

The next exhibition will be held at Pickering Memorial Hall, on Potter Hill, on August 20 and 21.

The next exhibition in Scarborough will be held in 2023.