Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The British Railway


The British Railway Modellers of North America (BRMNA) is an international organisation which caters for railway modellers who share an interest in modelling British railways and especially those who live in North America.

Overall, the aim of this web site is to provide a broad range of information and links which will be of value to all modellers but especially to those interested in the railways of Britain.

In addition to providing information about BRMNA, its history, its organisation and how to join BRMNA, which we hope you will do , there is information about British railways and also about modelling British railways which contains links to the BRMNA index of drawings.

While BRMNA is the ONLY organisation of its kind serving modellers all over North America, there are some other organisations in North America catering for British railway modellers, which aim to draw their membership more locally, and which might interest you, as well as some in Australia and New Zealand which are modelled after BRMNA.

A major challenge facing the British railway modeller in North America is obtaining products and services. This has been largely overcome in two ways: through free personal advertising in the BRMNA JOURNAL; and through BRMNA supplier members. These members own businesses that import British products at competitive prices, are knowledgeable about the products available and, in some cases, handle second hand items.

In Britain it is possible to visit a model railway show almost every weekend. While it is almost the same in North America, the difference is knowing whether there is the possibility of viewing British models or layouts or where new or used British products might be on sale. Also, when planning a trip to the UK it is useful to know what shows might be on during your visit. We try to overcome these challenges through the coming events page which will list only shows where you can expect to see British models or products.

Modellers all over the world rely on magazines and for those interested in British magazines it has been a rapidly changing market recently. Because of the number of them there are two pages: the first showing British railway modelling magazines; the other showing British railway prototype magazines.

There are many specialist organisations in Britain and the specialist page lists them and in some cases provides a link to their web site under three main categories: Special Modelling Societies; Special Interest Groups; and Preservation Societies.

Because of the diversity of interests, some useful links for British railway modellers provides a number of possible jump off points into the rest of railway hyperspace!

A site like this would be incomplete without some images of both prototypes and models as well as some references to other sites with images.

Finally, there is the Noticeboard where you will find meeting information, information requests and the opportunity to pose questions and, hopefully, get some answers and the Sales page which always has an extensive range of items for sale.


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