The weekend of 21st & 22nd is the date for the Foxfield Railway's Diesel Gala with visiting Class 20 D8154; which should provide plenty of noise on the line’s the 1 in 36 ruling gradient!  The Saturday morning should see a pair of DRS owned Class 37s on railtour duties through Stafford, hauling Spitfire Railtours’ “Paignton Pudden” from Crewe to Paignton.  The outward journey picks up in Stafford departing at 07:14 and return is at around 22:08.  The Pennine MRS are organising an exhibition at Saddleworth Textile Museum, although at present I’ve not been able to locate any details of what type or how many exhibits to expect.  On Sunday there is a Toy and Train Fair at The Pavilion Gardens, Buxton.

Over the last weekend of the month (28th & 29th) both the Foxfield Railway and the Severn Valley Railway have 1940s wartime themed events.  On the Churnet Valley Railway there is a Steam & Diesel summer special weekend.  On the Saturday there is the National Model Railroad Association’s “Ardenrail 2008” exhibition in Solihull with 14 (US themed) layouts and several specialist traders expected.  Other exhibitions this weekend include Perth (Perth & District MRS) and Bromley (Orpington & District MRS).

As mentioned last month, the summer holiday season means there is limited choice of model railway exhibitions during July, despite this there are still two member’s layouts out at exhibitions during the month and there is plenty of action on the heritage railways and some preserved diesel action on the mainline through Stafford.

July starts with a nine day diesel extravaganza on the East Lancashire Railway.  This commences on 28th June and running throughout the following week until 6th July.  Visiting locos include a Western, class 31, two class 37/9s and a class 45 along with many of the railways resident diesel fleet.  Daily loco allocations can be found on the ELR Bury Diesel Group’s website.  On the other side of the Pennines, the Middleton Railway Trust has a model railway exhibition in their engine house on 5th and 6th July.  Also in Leeds there is a Toy and Train Fair on the Sunday (6th) at Morley High School, Leeds (LS27 0PD).  On Saturday 5th Craven Arms and District Model Railway Circle are holding their Ludlow Model Railway exhibition at the Bishop Mascall Centre, Ludlow (SY8 1RZ).

On Saturday 12th, the Chiltern Model Railway Association is hosting their Totally Interactive Modelling Event (TIME) at the Westfield Community College in Watford (WD18 6NS).  This looks like an interesting event featuring talks, demonstrations and a member’s second hand stall.  The event is open to members of member societies (of which SRC is one); however tickets, which include a buffet lunch, need to be bought in advance from the CMRA.  Pathfinder’s “The Snowdonian” tour (also on the 12th) sees the first visit of a Deltic to the Cambrian Coast line; which should get the timbers of Barmouth bridge rattling!  55022 Royal Scots Grey picks up at Stafford at 08:25 on the outward journey, returning at around 22:10.  Also on the Saturday there are a couple of one day exhibitions organised by the Sheredes School Association (Hoddesdon, Herts EN11 8JY) and St Lawrence Church (Alvechurch, Worcs B48 7SB) and there is a Photograph Fair at Kidderminster Railway Museum.

On the weekend of 19th & 20th there is a Steam Gala on the Foxfield Railway, featuring a visiting Avonside 0-6-0 saddle tank.  The North Flyde MRC has a mini-exhibition at the Milton Youth & Community Centre, Fleetwood (Saturday & Sunday) and there is the Festival of Model Tramways at the Museum of Transport, Boyle Street, Manchester (M8 8UL) (Saturday only).  On the Sunday, there is a Model and Collectors Gala on the Telford Steam Railway. Also at Telford is the Narrow Gauge model exhibition, Sunday 20 July only, 10:30am - 4pm at The Park Inn Hotel, Telford. 

Over the last weekend of the month two members layouts are out at exhibitions; Dave Ford’s Bash Street attends Hartlepool Model Railway Club’s exhibition at Wynyard Rooms, Samsung Wynyard Park, Nr Hartlepool, Cleveland TS22 5TB (Saturday and Sunday).  Meanwhile I do not have quite so far to travel when I take my layout, Foundry Lane, to the RMweb Member’s Day, which takes place at the Chasewater Railway in Brownhills (Saturday only).  Also over this weekend there is a Country Fayre at Kingsley and Froghall station on the Churnet Valley Railway.

Stafford Railway Society Meetings

Meetings are held on Mondays at St. Leonard's Sport & Social Club, St. Leonard's Avenue, Stafford, at 19:30. Admission for non-members is £2 (£1 for Juniors/Senior Citizens)

Meetings for 2008

If you are interested in railways, local history, railway development, local transport or railway engineering, there is probably something to interest you here.

We thank Stafford Railway Society for these details of their meetings. You can find out more about the Stafford Railway Society at their website.