The Historical Model Railway Society (HMRS) is a British charitable society which supports railway modellers in creating historically accurate models. To this end it collects, preserves and makes available documents, drawings, photographs and other records, covering the period from the early 19th century to the present.

History

Founded in 1950, the Historical Model Railway Society registered as a

charitable incorporated organisation A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is a corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) charitable organisations in England and Wales, similar to (but with important differences from) a Scottish Charitable Incorporat ...

in March 2016, having previously been a registered charity since 1977. The founding president was the influential railway official and historian,

George Dow George Dow (30 June 1907 – 28 January 1987) was an employee of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and British Railways known for his public relations work and railway maps produced for his employers, and also a writer of railway litera ...

. One of its early members, and for some time its Vice-President, was the railway writer and artist C. Hamilton Ellis, whose 1962 book ''Model Railways 1838–1939'' was said by ''The Times'' to have "led the way in charting the early history of this ... hobby".

Location

The Historical Model Railway Society has a purpose-built building at the Swanwick Junction site of the

Midland Railway – Butterley The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire. History Overview The ''Midland Railway – Butterley'' lies on the Ambergate to Pye Bridge line of the old Midland Railway, a line once con ...

, where its collections can be viewed at certain times. The Society's collections, providing information for both

railfan A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rail ...

s and model railroaders,Corkill 1979, p. 11. include over 200,000 photographs (50,000 of which are available in the Society's online catalogue ), 300,000 drawings, and a large and varied collection of railway documents including working documents, railway timetables, model catalogues and enthusiasts' documentation. Five of the paintings held in the Society's collection are listed in the

Art UK Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 220,000 paintings by more than 40,000 artists and is now expanding the digital collection t ...

database.

Publications

The Historical Model Railway Society publishes the ''HMRS Journal'' on a quarterly basis; according to the Society, the ''Journal'' "aims to be one of scholarly record and publishes prime source material as well as items of debate and research."

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* {{official website, 1=https://hmrs.org.uk/ Rail transport modelling associations 1950 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1950 Clubs and societies in Derbyshire