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About Ballarat and District Model Railway Club

Ballarat and District Model Railway Club was formed in 1980 after the Wendouree Apex Club, through the direction of David Haymes of Haymes Paint, held a "Model Railway Spectacular" in the Lower Civic Hall. At this exhibition a paper was circulated seeking people interested in forming a model railway club. The newly formed club acquired accommodation at the Sebastopol Community Centre and eventually took possession of three rooms on the top floor of what was the Sebastopol Primary School.

As the club grew so did the layout developments, One room was set up with an N scale layout. another larger room had the HO scale layout and the library come meeting room became the construction room for the HO Exhibition layout. After 10 years it was thought that it was time to move as the club was outgrowing the premises and the stairs were becoming a challenge for the older members. The old traffic school, formally the Administration Building for RAAF, based at the Ballarat Airport, became available for leasing so the club took possession of the western half of the building in January 2000.

Today we have some 35 members from many walks of life. Our membership includes retired railwaymen, electrical and electronics experts, carpenters and builders, public servants and professional people, all who have a common interest, model railway. We have junior members as well as retirees and are regularly introducing new members to the Club.

We are based at the Ballarat Airport in our clubrooms with three fixed club layouts,  which are, one N scale exhibition layout, permanent N, HO, and ON30 under construction.
Our members modelling interests cover North American, European, British, and Australian prototypes, in scales from N, HO/OO, ON30 to G.
We meet on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 pm till late, and also have sessions for layout construction and maintenance, train operation and model making. We have members who are highly experienced in layout construction, electrical wiring and model making.
Our clubrooms contain a meeting room and extensive library, which members may access books, videos or DVDs.




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