|
About this time, following the inspiration and considerable effort of our then President Grant Mansell, we launched into fundraising
by holding public exhibitions, raffles etc. These were instituted for the purpose of building our own clubrooms and a debenture
scheme was also well supported by club members. We were also kindly supported by a generous financial arrangement with one
of our members, Harry Davison.
The contract for the new clubrooms was let to Frankton Buildings Ltd and work commenced in July 1985. The contract called
for a closed-in shell and all internal work - the members carried out insulation, linings, electrical, plumbing etc. Dave
Sperry was the Clerk of Works ably assisted by Peter Maisey. While the original building accommodated our needs for a few
years, it soon became obvious that we would need more space to house the layouts we were building and so the clubrooms was
almost doubled in size to it's present format.
Over the years the HMR have made many exchange visits with other clubs and these have included Wanganui, New Plymouth,
Rotorua, Auckland, North Shore, Napier/ Hastings, Tauranga and Wellington. We have seen many fine model railroad layouts on
these visits and have been proud to show our efforts to the visitors. Members have also participated in many train excursions
covering areas such as the Huntly coal mines, East Coast Main Trunk to the Bay of Plenty, Taumarunui, Wellington, Cambridge
branch, Rotorua and Kinleith. There have been many occasions - too many to list when several members have followed the steam
excursions to record the occasion on film. A number of excursions to scenes of railway interest have also been made to places
like Ellis and Burnand's mills at Ongarue and Mananui, Huntly coal mine area, the Glenbrook steel mill, Mamaku, Ngatira, Mokai.
After the inaugural Model Railway Convention held in Wellington in 1966, the Association of NZ Model Railway Clubs was
formed and the Hamilton Model Railroaders were prominent in these formative times. Les Street and Graeme Robinson were the
initial President and Secretary of the Association and they published the early issues of the Associations'. news sheets 'The
Coupler' which they named as a means of joining the various clubs together.
In the modelling field the Hamilton Model Railroaders have always been very keen in participation and we have had several
innovative modellers especially in the NZR modelling area. John Hefford and Fred West were two early exponents of NZR modelling
to a scale of 1:64 and following them we have had Norm Gaby who was a spectacular modeller especially of scenes and rolling
stock. Norm did much to popularise NZR modelling through his efforts in making rubber moulds from which many wagons parts
could be cast in fibreglass. In more recent years Colin McHarg has developed a photo-engraving method of modelling which produces
exquisite models. Colin also is well-known for his endless supply of number plates for models. Trevor James is well-respected
for his modelling skills while Neil Ward is a prolific and very accurate modeller.
The club members modelling skills can best be seen at our model building competitions and some fine models can be seen.
At the bi-ennial model contests held at the conventions, several Hamilton modellers have featured in the prize lists and we
are proud of our successes in this field.
Club members also follow other prototype modelling interests and these include United Kingdom, USA, German, Dutch, South
Africa and Japan in a number of scales from O to N. As well as the members own home layouts, we have built a number of club
layouts for display purposes and these can be seen at our exhibitions which are held around the Waikato each year.
Graeme Robinson (Life Member)
"THE HOBBY
THAT IS ON TRACK"
|
