About the club

Tonbridge Model Railway Club (TMRC) was formed by a small band of local modellers in 1980 and has evolved over the last few decades to become the thriving club it is today.

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We are a friendly club of ~40 members from across Tonbridge and near by areas. Traditionally we meet once a week, on a Thursday evening from 7pm for a few hours to build model railways, have talks and socialise. We are also the organisers of the very popular annual Tonbridge model railway exhibition, which but for the pandemic would have reached its 40th show in February 2021.

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Interests cross a broad spectrum of the hobby; some are fine scale modellers while others prefer running models straight from the box and cover a range of scales, gauges and prototypes and our club layouts reflect this.  See the 'layouts' section of this site.

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Members typically spend club nights working on layouts, building kits, running their latest purchases or just having a good chat and a cup of tea. ​

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We have an active presence on common social media sites such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook available with many members keeping in touch using them as well as e-mail, sharing their modelling activities, providing encouragement, humour and the 'Why didn't I think of that...". 

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During the year the club runs a range of events 

• Modelling and photographic competitions, judged by the members on the last meeting of the year prior to Christmas

• Occasional talks from guest speakers on range of topics from modelling to the real thing. 

• Our AGM (members only) where discussions on topics such as finances, votes on ideas from members and re-election of committee members take place

• Our Annual exhibition held every year on a Saturday in mid February. See the 'Exhibition' section of the website for more details.

• There is the occasional trip out by groups of members e.g. to The London Festival of Railway Modelling at Alexandra Palace in London. 

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In addition to the above a newsletter is provided to members at least 4 times a year giving updates on club activities etc.

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NB: We can be confused with the Tonbridge Model Engineering Society who run live steam and diesel locomotive models on their track in nearby Tonbridge park giving rides to the public at the weekends during summer (and well worth a visit). 

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Being run entirely by volunteers this means our website is also written, updated and managed by volunteers. If you see an error (a date looks wrong, there’s a spelling mistake or a link doesn’t work etc) please let us know using the details on the contact us page.

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