Twickenham & District Model Railway Club (TDMRC) has announced a new skills-learning project called Kerswell Lane to teach newcomers the basics of building model railways.
The club also hosted an open day on July 27 which acted as a taster day for any potential club members.
Club chairman Paul Raven-Hill, 72, stressed the importance of having fun in building your railway.
He said: “It’s my railway I can do what I like.”
The TDMRC aim on tapping into a wider audience by making the hobby more accessible to all.
The club has also unveiled a new set which shares its name with the ‘Kerswell Lane’ project and aims to give newcomers the confidence to get hands-on with the hobby.
The project and set were named after the club’s location in Kerswell Hall, Hounslow.
A 00-gauge model railway is the most popular standard gauge railway and has been incorporate by the club as a more upmarket model for a skills-building exercise they hosted.
There are also museum-quality sets available at the club to keep experienced modellers challenged too.
A spokesperson for the TDMRC said: “We were fortunate in having extremely good weather,
“We [also] had a steady flow of visitors right from the start until almost the last half an hour before closing.”
Model railway producer Hornby has also reported a 28% rise in sales between 2020 and 2021, which industry professionals are calling the “Kidult era,” as more people are reconnecting with childhood hobbies.
Raven-Hill believes the hobby is on the rise because it’s simply the perfect way to switch off on a Friday night.
Photo by Rene Böhmer on Unsplash
