Primo Models Blog

Cupar & District Model Railway Club Visit!

Post by: Michal Kmiec #Primo Models

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The Seventh Primo Meeting!

I am happy to inform you that the seventh Primo Meeting went perfectly fine! This time Primo Models has visited the “Cupar & District Model Railway Club.” Funny enough, this small town in Fife was my first destination before I have traveled all over the world. I was just sixteen at that time and decided to use the summer break to make money for my future driving license and car. There are some highly personal stories coming from this short summer break and Cupar that I will never forget!

Cupar & District Model Railway Club has its own permanent club room, in the very heart of Cupar. The clubroom is located on the first floor of the theater block of the old Castlehill Primary School on Castlehill. The Old Theatre Block, Castlehill Centre, Cupar, KY15 4HA. The building is directly in front of you as you go through the gates. Access to the building is via a door at the rear. They are located on the first floor. Membership is open to anyone over 14, with interest in railways. They currently offer two types of membership – Adult 18+ and Junior 14-17.

The club meet Monday and Thursday nights 6.30pm – 9.30pm. They work with OO, HO, ON30, and O scale.

First Impression and History

I was really looking forward to this meeting. A lot of people from previous club visits were asking “if I have already visited Cuper & District Model Railway Club”, always speaking positively and friendly about Cupar’s Club and its members! Furthermore, I was impressed by the quality of the Club’s webpage (http://www.cuparmrc.co.uk/) and involvement in social media. It is the first Club that I have seen so far using Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/cuparmrc/). Both of these factors made the opportunity to visit them very appealing and exciting.

After finally reaching the Club I was helped by one of its members, Chris, with reversing the car in a bit tight and dark parking space and move all of the dioramas inside the clubroom. What struck me immediately after entering the room was its “interior design.” All walls were taken with posters, newspaper articles, flags, and banners. That made the room much more emotional and passionate. I was positively surprised by an interested shown by the club members the moment they have seen Primo Models dioramas. I was pleased to see all of the people surrounding dioramas, asking questions, and providing me with kind comments and feedbacks about our model trees.

Founded in 1977, Cupar & District Model Railway Club is a small but very friendly club with members from varied backgrounds and ages, but with a common interest in Railways and model making. They organize the annual Cupar Model Rail that is held in the Corn Exchange every July. Over the years, Club has built award-winning exhibition layouts in OO, HO, ON30, and O scale operating in DC and DCC. A new OO DC Layout “Glen Tay” is currently under construction in the club room by one of its members. They also attend many local shows, including those in Glenrothes, Perth, St Andrews, Dundee & Renfrewshire, and in 2019 we are also heading to Inverness and Falkirk.

Cupar Model Railway Club Tour

After my presentation, club members looking at the products and small group chat, we have moved onto admiring Club’s layouts. We have started with an old, OO scale American model railway layout, which I have been told is over 20 years old. There are a lot of old layouts around, but this one had very advanced for the time electronic solutions installed. One of the club members called, layout creator who is unfortunately not with us anymore, the “Electronic Wizzard.” Buildings and details on it were very well made as well. I truly enjoyed the “climate” of it. I was wondering how much better if at all, it could look with Primo Models trees. Who knows, maybe one day we will all be able to see it!

The second big layout was on the other side of the room and was covered with a plastic sheet. At some point, seeing that we are done with the first layout, Ryan, who has multiple functions in the Club, decided to take off the cover. The uncovering process was an exhilarating and touching moment. It felt as we would be uncovering pallets with gold, or expensive collector car, least to say. There was a good reason behind the excitement. The layout being shown to me was the winner of “The Continental Modeller” Trophy at the 2018 Warley National Model Railway Exhibtion. The layout is to the On30 scale (7mm/ft O gauge running on HO track) and is, in fact, two layouts. The upper section is a logging line, the lower part serves Solomon’s mine and its settlement with both freight and passenger trains. Four Feather Falls was featured in the July 2019 issue of Continental Modeller!

After Four Feather Falls”, we have focused on third, this time European and modern era layout in the OO scale. The layout is called Eden Road TMD and is a representation of a Traction Maintenance Depot set loosely between 2000’s and present-day to allow a range of motive power to be used. Similarly to other Club’s layouts, this one was built with care for details as well. My personal favorite feature on it was precisely painted rails and great looking fencing. I was unfortunate to not be able to see this beauty in its full glory as it was worked on, so some elements ware taken temporarily removed. I am looking forward to seeing it live once it is fully unrolled!

Last but not least, I would like to mention that there is a new club layout being build mainly by Chris, which I think is something worth to keep an eye on. The details inside the buildings were lovely! I strongly advise the Club’s Facebook page to see the updates on this upcoming masterpiece.

On the End

On the end, I would like to mention that some of the trees given by Primo Models to the Club will hopefully end up somewhere on their award-winning American layout in On30 scale. I hope that all club members who purchased our trees will be pleased with them for years to come! Moreover, I am honored to say that Primo Models was invited for the Club’s next exhibition, “Cupar Model Rail 2020” in July. I can’t stress enough how much I recommend anybody to visit the Cupar & District Model Railway Club and meet all of its friendly members!

Cupar Model Rail 2020!

18th and 19th of July

The Corn Exchange, Cupar, Fife, Ky15 4BT