Model railway club 'like phoenix from the ashes'

BILLINGHAM RAILWAY MODELLERS CLUB PREPARE TO MOVE TO A NEW HOME

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

A MODEL railway club is rising “like a phoenix from the ashes” after a torrid year where it lost its home and half its members.

The Billingham Railway Modellers Club (BRMC) has survived with about a dozen members varying in age from their 20s to their 80s.

After enduring a painful time where it lost its town centre home, members hope they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The club started in the autumn of 2022, and went from strength to strength.

"When we came here the very first time there were two of us," says chairman David Frost, 70.

"The second week there was three, the next there were 27. Model railwaying is the biggest hobby in the country apart from sports. But most people have them in lofts, sheds, garages or in boxes."

The club ended up using a property in the town centre, above Heron Foods at Queensway, paying a peppercorn rent. And they were looking to grow.

Secretary Graham Potter, 62, says: “We managed to get a property in the town centre where we were for a year or so. We'd filled it, the club had grown quite big. We were hoping to pick up a neighbouring unit because we had expanded so much.”

Then came the bombshell early this year, as town centre owner Evolve Estates' plans moved forward to demolish “tired and dated” buildings including Queensway, and the club had to leave: “Rather than expanding, we got kicked out.