WIMBORNE RAILWAY SOCIETY – see this panel for latest news and meeting information.

 PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR SPEAKERS WHO PUT IN A GREAT DEAL OF EFFORT FOR YOUR BENEFIT

 THIS WEEK is a Presentation by Mike Walshaw – a sideways look at railways through the work of the cartoonist Rowland Emmett with the Modellers busy in the Club on Tuesday as usual.

OUR OPEN DAY WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL WITH A LOT OF VISITORS AND FAMILIES. THANK YOU TO OUR TRADERS AND LAYOUT OPERATORS AS WELL AS EVERYONE WHO HELPED TO MAKE THE EVENT HAPPEN.  RAFFLE PRIZES WERE WON BY TICKETS NUMBERED 605, 502, 516 and 486 –  See our “Exhibitions” page on this site for more information.

Subscriptions for 2024 are now due. Please use BACS whenever possible or see our Treasurer. The rates for 2024 remain unchanged at £40 per individual.

Please watch for updates via email/Facebook or check the website.

 

The  Society is now on Facebook – click here

Interested in joining us? See the Membership application form on the “Contact” button or click on the JOIN TODAY button at the bottom of this page

  

Wimborne Railway Society

 

Wimborne Railway Society meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 7.30pm at the United Reformed Church Hall, Chapel Lane, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1PP. Tuesdays are our modelling evenings and on Thursdays we have a varied programme of slide, cine, and video shows interspersed with club nights where members can test their models on our test track, work on one of the layouts, read a book or magazine from our library, or have a chat with like minded individuals. The programme of meetings can be found by clicking on the “Meetings” tab.

© Wimborne Railway Society 2023 – all rights reserved. You are not permitted to copy, download or disseminate any images or text from this site without the consent of the Society who act for the owner or author of any images and articles.

A Brief History of Wimborne Railway Society

 

The society was founded by Vera Hutchings in 1975, who arranged the first meetings at the R.A.F. Association hut, in Wimborne. When the club moved to a room at the Griffin Hotel, opposite Wimborne Station, we made a start on a ‘OO’ gauge model of the station before the last real trains ran in 1977. Layouts in ‘O’ and ‘N’ gauge followed (though not based on Wimborne). In June 1979 the first WRS exhibition was held, at Colehill, at the same time as the society was preparing to leave the Griffin, which was to be demolished.

The move to our current premises in Chapel Lane was made in August 1979, and the layouts rebuilt to suit the new arrangements. They had to be made portable, to be replaced in a storeroom after each meeting. The prophets of doom said that the club would not be the same without permanent layouts, and they were right – attendance at meetings increased by over 100%!

Since then, a format has evolved of Thursday nights for social chat, model running, and occasional guest speaker or other special event, with the new Tuesday nights for active modelling, maintenance, and occasional operating nights.
The success of the society can be judged from the levels of membership — almost 100 full members — and the fact that many of the founder members are still with us.

We aim to please a broad spectrum of railfans and railway modellers, and with almost 100 members, we must be doing something right!

Society Exhibitions

The Society has held exhibitions in March of odd-numbered years at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne, but we are no longer able to use that venue. In 2023 we will be holding a smaller – but still first class – show (Wimborne “Railex”) at the Allendale Community Centre, Hanham Road, Wimborne BH21 1AS over the weekend of 15th and 16th April. See you there.