Ilford & West Essex Model Railway Club www.iwemrc.org.uk
The home of Railway Modelling since 1930
Section Guide16.5 Gauge (OO)7¼" GaugeN GaugeNorth AmericanO GaugeLibrary009 Gauge
7¼" Gauge Section
Formed1930's
No of Members6
Section HeadKevin Waredraper
Meets onWednesday morning & Sunday morning

The club has it's own permanent 7¼" gauge miniature railway in the club grounds, with a mixture of live steam, electric and petrol locomotves. We hold monthly Steam/Open Days from April to September which are open to the public.

The History

One of the earliest members of the I & WEMRC was Dr Watts, back in the mid-1930's. He lived in a large house at Chigwell Row, and around the estate was laid a long and winding irregular circle of 7¼" gauge railway track, the main feature of which was a timber viaduct - some 30 feet long - built on a curve across the middle of the lake. It was the doctor’s custom to hold garden parties in the summer for the sole purpose of running sessions on his railway.

His locomotive was based on the LSWR Urie 4-6-0 N15 class that subsequently became part of the King Arthur class and was named Excalibur (right). The war years played havoc with the track as it was impossible to carry out any maintenance, and by the end of the war, the deck and timber supports of the viaduct had rotted. When the doctor died, Excalibur, rolling stock and track were bequeathed to the club.

Current Activities

We are currently rebuilding our resident steam locomotive ‘Excalibur’ and hope that she will be ready for our 2019 Open Days season.

We also have a battery powered loco based on a Class 20 Diesel Electric locomotive as well as another loco ‘Chadwell’ which is an 0-4-0 battery powered loco.

We also have a newly constructed 0-4-0 steam loco, and have also embarked on a Track Replacement programme with the first section now complete.

Coming up...

WEST ESSEX
MODELRAIL 2024

Sat 27 Apr 2024
10.00am-5.00pm

Marshalls Park Acadamy
Pettits Lane
Romford RM1 4EH

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STEAM DAYS 2024

Sun 07 Apr 2024
Sun 05 May 2024
Sun 02 Jun 2024
Sun 07 Jul 2024
Sun 04 Aug 2024
Sun 01 Sep 2024
Sun 06 Oct 2024


Train rides, model railways & refreshments

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