Staying on track: Model magic draws crowds to Limerick

THERE was a real sense of wonderment from the young and the not-so-young in Limerick at the weekend as more than 1,000 people got on board at a local club’s first-ever model railway exhibition.

Youngsters were left wide-eyed with excitement, while others enjoyed a nostalgic trip down memory lane at the Mid-West Model Railway Club’s (MWMRC) show in the Castletroy Park Hotel.

Some 40 groups and individuals ensured the event was on track to be a success, with the exhibition manager Tom Cassidy saying: “I think Santa Claus will be delivering a lot of train sets this Christmas to Limerick children!”

MORE PICTURES: Mid-West Model Railway Club exhibition in Limerick

“It’s a delight to see the exhibition hall teeming with children of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers, enthralled at what they are seeing. What I particularly like is the reaction of young girls to these railways,” Tom added.

MWMRC, which meets at St Mary’s Men’s Shed in the city, has been preparing for the exhibition for many months.

So it was perhaps only right their entry into the show was the largest of the lot, in terms of size - a painstaking re-imagining of a junction rail station not dissimilar to the one many of us change at en route to Dublin or Cork!

But there was a wide spectrum of people present in Castletroy, from the Wexford Model Railway Club - who have recreated a station on the Rosslare branch line in the sunny south-east - to homages to historical steam train stations from both Ireland and Britain’s red-bricked industrial past.

There was plenty of memorabilia on display, as Tom noted.

“We have people from the International Plastic Modellers Association who started out with a basic Airfix kit of a Hurricane Fighter plane of the 1940s era. We have people with a lot of other nostalgia - old railway posters, early Aer Lingus advertising posters. We have people specialising in dioramas focusing on different periods of conflict from the 19th century through to the 20th century,” Tom explained.

“There is a wide spectrum of people out there including those who specialise in diecast models. They are anything and everything from the big chunky Land Rover sinking model through to the most delicate little representation of a vehicle.”

Pictured below, Ballinacurra man Ross Gribben attended the exhibition with his two children Dalach, 4 and Antoin, 2, the pair transfixed on the moving trains.

“We’d spend a lot of time going to the train station and watching the trains. They are typical boys, they love trains, tractors and trucks. We could probably stand here watching these for 20 minutes. So I’ve bought a coffee and left them to it,” Ross smiled.

It was a trip down memory lane for Sean Dalton, who now lives in Raheen, but grew up in Knocklong, and remembers the rail station in the south-east Limerick village.

“We were all fascinated going down there with the walkway overhead. The old station is of huge historical interest because of the rescue of (IRA man) Sean Hogan. There are plans to restore it, and hopefully it will come back one day,” Sean said.

He praised the enthusiasm of the local model rail club.

Pictured above, Nathan Kingston

“This is where model trains should be. Rolling around and not sitting in boxes," he smiled.

In terms of what is next for MWMRC, Tom said he hopes the club will be able to take their display on the road.

“There is a huge touring circuit for these, from London, over to Germany, and France in particular. We'll see how it goes. The sky is the limit,” he smiled.

Maybe of more pressing concern is the need for the club to move into its own premises, with it renting a small room in the Men's Shed at present.

They are always on the look-out for new members.

For more information, call Evan Kelly at 083-2004334.