What keeps model railway club on track?
Whanganui has a huge number of clubs, covering all sorts of interests. Our reporters have been finding out more about some of them for our Welcome to the Club series. Today Logan Tutty catches up with the Wanganui Model Railway and Engineering Society
Tucked away in a small building in Gonville, a historic club chugs along more than 50 years on. The Wanganui Model Railway and Engineering Society has been around in some capacity since 1954.
“As far as the property we are on, there has been a railway-related club there since then,” president Paul Mallett said.
“The whole idea of the club is to promote the hobby.
“The active part of the club is the clubrooms on Alma Rd. We have a pretty large permanent model railway layout that is in a permanent state of development.”
The club was formed in 1991 after a merger between the Wanganui Railway Modellers Club and the Wanganui Engineering Society.
Mallett joined the club about 15 years ago and has been president for the past five.
He said as members have come and gone over the years, the direction of their mission always changes and evolves. With a continuous track around 90m long, the model railway is a significant project.
“It takes a train three or four minutes to get around the whole thing. On a global scale it is reasonably big. It is continually evolving.
“People that haven’t seen it [before] are usually blown away by it.”
The club has about 25 members, who participate in varying capacities.
“On a national basis, we are the same size as most clubs besides the big centres. We are fairly average in terms of our membership.
“Our membership at the moment, we have builders, electricians, mechanics. All pretty average normal guys.”
The club gathers at its Alma Rd headquarters every Thursday evening to work on the track and has an “official” meeting the third Tuesday of each month.
“We try to do something people want to see. We might do a workshop evening, we might just run the train set. Whatever people are keen to do, we will have a go at.”
In 2018, an extension was added to the building which became the permanent home for the club’s N scale and portable layouts. Mallett said the society is quite a social group, sometimes to the detriment of working.
“Sometimes working you can degrade into political conversations and all sorts.”
Mallett said the hobby is quite extensive, requiring knowledge in many fields such as building the tracks, designing the layout and wiring it all.
“It’s a good hobby if you want to
learn how to do ‘stuff’. It does teach you a bit for sure.”
On a personal note, Mallett has a particular passion for building motors and locomotives. “I kinda like the engineering and intricate side of the trade. I’m one of very few in the country that do what I do.
“At the end of the day it’s cheaper to buy from a manufacturer so most people don’t bother on the building and focus on the layout of the track.”
He estimates he has built about 20 locomotives over the past decade, built to a scale of 1/76th.
“On average they would take 80 to 100 hours for a build.”
Anyone interested in joining or learning more about the club is invited to attend the weekly workshop on a Thursday about 7pm.
“People are certainly welcome to come by if they are interested,” Mallett said.