Club News
A fantastic weekend at the Great Cornish Model Show, some superb examples of modelmaking on display and a great atmosphere. We were delighted when Nick Corston offered to set up his pop-up creative workshop in the car park and run modelling workshops for the children (and a few adults!) Nick's operation can be seen here: https://www.steamco.org.uk/ and here is the fantastic video he made giving a glimpse of the show: https://www.facebook.com/hfmrc
Thank you to all who attended as Exhibitors, Traders and those roped in to help!
St Martins Square
Following the busy time preparing for our Spring Show, St Martins Square is now back on track with additional buildings and scenic work to complete.
St Martins Square has been drastically enlarged with additional goods yard and siding space, and the control system revised to provide push-button automatic route selection allowing the operators to set the road for trains at the touch of a button. All the point motors have been replaced with Cobalt slow-acting units and new control panels built. The layout attended its first major outing at our own show in April 2019 where the new control system proved its worth with smooth and simple operation. The layout is now up and running in the Clubroom and recieving attention from the 'scenic creatives'. We are also constructing a set of new supports which will make the layout much easier to erect and dismantle, as well as raising the viewing height to a more realistic level.
The additional trackage will allow for much more freight capacity with a five road marshalling yard, goods arrivals and departure roads, parcels sidings and a complete private system serving a brewery which even has its own locomotive shed.
Watermouth, The wiring on Phase 1 re-wiring is now complete with Cobalt point motors to replace the ancient H & M solenoids of the original. The control system is more traditional than St Martins Square with conventional switched sections and individually switched points in keeping with the layout's original concept. It is however wiired for two controllers with a third placed to come on stream when the second station is added. The second section of the layout representing the Junction between the GWR & SR is now in place and the long curved bridge connecting the two is now installed and ready for traffic.
Work is now in progress on Phase 2 wiring of St David's Junction and construction of the final baseboard for the cassette deck fiddle yard.
More photos and updates at (57) Cornish Riviera Area Group - Scalefour Forum
HFMRC modellers take the prize at York!
Cornish Modellers Take the Prize at York
Members of the Helston & Falmouth Model Railway Club collected another award for their layout 'Gweek North Quay' at the recent York Model Railway Show. The Mike Cook Memorial Cup is awarded to the layout that, in the organiser's view, would have been most enjoyed by the late Mike Cook who organised the York show from 1962 to just before his death in 2011.
The model represents the station and quayside at Gweek on the mythical narrow gauge ‘Helford Valley Railway’ which was proposed to link Helston and Penryn, but was never actually built.
Club member Steve Howe, one of the team behind the project, said “We were delighted to be asked to appear at the York Show which is one of the highlights of the railway modelling calendar, after our layout appeared in the ‘Hornby Magazine’ last year. It’s a real accolade to get this award and I’m pleased that it raises the profile of the Club and railway modelling as a creative and absorbing hobby.”
Posted: Wed 11th April 2018
Gweek North Quay wins new award
Members of the Helston & Falmouth Model Railway Club were presented with the Chairman's Shield for their 'Gweek North Quay' layout at the Rail-Ex Taunton exhibition on 28th October 2017.
Posted: Mon 30th October 2017
Another prestige award for the Club!
Following hard on the heels of their success at the Great Electric Train Show, the Helston & Falmouth Model Railway Club has been awarded another accolade at the National Model Railway Show held at the NEC where their layout 'Gweek North Quay' was awarded the Glasscot Trophy presented by record producer and model train enthusiast Pete Waterman for the Best Narrow gauge layout in Show.
The exhibition, organised by the Warley Model Railway Club, is the largest show of its kind in the UK and attracts some fourteen and a half thousand visitors over its two day period.
This latest award comes just one month after 'Gweek North Quay' was awarded a 'Best in Show' trophy at the prestigious Great Electric Train Show sponsored by Hornby Magazine.
Posted: Wed 30th November 2016
