A BRIEF HISTORY of the PORT ELIZABETH MODEL RAILROAD CLUB 2023

On 4 February 2023 the PEMRC held its 15th AGM. Records of the existence of a model railway club in the city of Port Elizabeth can be found as far back as 1988.

Downtown Port Elizabeth and the area of what was the Central Business District around the Railway Station in the 1980’s is today a far cry from its former glory days when the Model Railway Club had a meeting room in the station building, arranged then by Louis van Wyk!

Before moving into the station building, the Club had a meeting room on the upper level of the Feather Market, which is also extraordinary even today!

It is thus difficult to determine when the current club was founded. It is generally believed that the first club, although not a constituted organisation, but rather a group of model railway enthusiasts who met on a regular basis with their respective modular layouts.

They exhibited at the Hobbies Fair as well as the November 1988 Modern Living Video Photo & Hi-Fi Expo at the Feather Market. Various members’ layout modules formed one continuous layout with a mainline double track and large fiddle yard.

Sketch of the 1988 exhibition layout:

Layouts were by Louis van Wyk, Brian Messenger, Mike van Zyl, Sarel Rossouw, Tony Nolden, Hilton & Hilary Smith and James Kruger.

The deterioration of the CBD led to them meeting at the house of then chairman, Ray Green or other members in suburbia.

Hylary Smith recalls:

“In the early days there were quite a few fringe members whose names I have long forgotten. John Lemon was also a very enthusiastic member but he was also more interested in 0 gauge. He was a very busy man but did attend a few meetings and gave us a lot of support. My late brother Hylton and I were great friends with John. Brian Messenger relocated to Cape Town. Tony Knowlden passed away as did Louis van Wyk and Sarel Rossouw. They were a great loss to the club. But the greatest loss was the passing of Ray Green. In those days there was no talk of a club house. We were quite content to get together on a Saturday morning and run trains on Ray’s layout. ”

They also arranged the display of their modules in the Greenacres Shopping Centre.

This was a huge success, which, in 2002 under the leadership of Ray Green, Mike van Zyl and Wally Webb, led to the group organising the first Model Railway Convention for Port Elizabeth which in fact was the 10th National Model Railway Convention. This was held over the long weekend of 4-7 April 2002 at the Eastcape Training College in Struandale.

In about 2008 and with the introduction of stricter compliance with money laundering legislation, the bank requested a constitution before the account would be verified for FICA.

The Club adopted the name “Port Elizabeth Railroad Club” (PEMRC) and now had a constitution. The Chairman is Ray Green and Mike Parsons designed the oval shaped Club Logo.

Fast forward to 2010 when I (Roel van Oudheusden) became involved with the Club following their exhibit at the Emerald Square Shopping Centre in Mount Pleasant.

A member in the building trade, Johan Kilian, then proposed the converting of an outbuilding in Newton Park into a Club House. The landlord and the Club came to an agreement on the lease and after a few months of hard work by Johan and Club Members, the PEMRC had its first ever own Club House.

Meetings were now held here each Saturday morning whilst on some weekday evenings more building was done of the Club Layout.

Within the clubhouse we operated a shop. For the most part is was a place where members could sell railway stuff that they no longer had a use for but we also purchased new stuff – via a hobby shop in JNB – for purchase by members. The shop was very well run by Mike Scully† and it made significant contribution to club funds. Paid-up members are now 40 with many casual visitors on Saturday mornings (members-to-be?)

Mike Smout at work on the club layout.

Members could now run their rolling stock on the club layout!

In 2013, the PEMRC held a successful 2nd Model Railway Convention, being the 16th National Model Railway Convention, at the German Club in Lorraine. Chair of the Convention Committee was Mike Smout. Workshops on various topics were presented in the mornings with layout visits in the afternoon, including a visit to the SAR workshops in Uitenhage and PEMLS live steam at Londt Park!

The Conventions used to be held biennially and members visited the Cape Town convention as a group in 2011 where the 15th National Convention was held. Sadly it would appear as if post COVID there is no appetite for these conventions anymore. Two Great Train Expo’s were held in Gauteng in 2016, but no National Conventions happened since.

Proposed New Clubhouse

Late 2015 we were notified that the landlord had sold the property but that the new owners would respect the conditions of our lease. Effectively we had a 10 year lease till 31 December 2022 but with a buy-out clause after 5 years. In 2018 the landlord exercised his right to buy us out in terms of the lease agreement. Mike Smout led the negotiations and PEMRC got fair compensation for our investment and renovations of the building, which we now had to vacate by end of June 2018. This started a new quest for a temporary location to meet whilst the dream of a ‘permanent’ club house was pursued. In the interim, meetings now take place at Mike Parson’s house in Newton Park.

Discussions were held with the PE Model Locomotive Society, who operate the live steam miniature railway at Londt Park, to agree on a way forward and permit us to erect a club house there. JP Kruger is the PEMRC project leader to get an ‘affordable’ architectural design approved by the metro and the clubs involved. Juan-Pierre Kruger and architect Don Bell together have come up with the following proposed design for a public hall to be erected at the Londt Park Miniature Railway grounds on a site to be agreed upon with the P E Model Locomotive Society. The planning has taken the current building and safety regulations for public buildings into account but Council approval still needs to be obtained. The proposal and the funding for the project was approved at the AGM on 18 January 2020. This is the first design of our new clubhouse as at Dec 2019 to be erected as a wooden modular structure at Londt Park once everybody agrees.

Graham Chapman then made this wooden model based on the proposal:

2019 Members’ A4 Diorama Competition

Members took part in an A4 diorama competition, with A4 sized styrofoam base boards kindly supplied by JP Kruger. Here are some of the entries; the judge was architect Don Bell.

Don had difficulty in finding a winner among the variety and each entrant had the opportunity to explain why he had made his diorama. Roel’s entry with the tree bark mountain waterfall and railway bridge scene was ultimately declared the winner with everyone else runners-up!

Most dioramas have since found a place to be incorporated in the respective member’s layout whilst others are proudly available to display when we have public exhibitions such as the regular P E Toy Fair.

Our building plans required amendment as the Fire Chief would not consent to a wooden structure with access by the public; it has to be conventional brick and mortar. The revised plans then were approved but subject to a valid lease. The plans were submitted in the name of the lessee of the Londt Park premises, i.e. the Port Elizabeth Model Locomotive Society, whom the PEMRC members would join as associate members and each would continue to operate independently.

Redesigned Club House in 2022 viewed from the Locomotive Society (South elevation)

North Elevation

West Elevation as seen from car park and May Way

The site of the PEMRC Club House (black rectangle on the Londt Park sketch below) was finally approved by the members of the PEMLS on 26 Feb 2023. However, the renewal of the PEMLS lease is subject to municipal valuation. In the interim they have complied with all the metro’s other requirements.

Our club layout and physical club library, consisting of a large collection of books, magazines and videos, are currently safely stored pending the completion of our new club house. Both clubs require a growth in younger membership to remain viable and relevant.

The hobby of model railways allows one to learn a variety of skills far eyond normal modelling only i.e., history, engineering, design, architecture and landscaping.

The world has also become a much smaller place to learn from others via web sites, YouTube channels and a host of online and hard copy publications.

The Club has a monthly publication, “The Turntable” which is published digitally on ISSUU and is read online far beyond the current membership.

Some members such as Gerhard du Preez have an interest and membership of the live steam club as well as

Here Gerhard is driving his live steam 5 inch gauge SAR 4-6-2 Class 16DA during one of the PEMLS Open days.

Member Layouts

To end off, a selection of images of a few members’ layouts representing the various scales. Henk Grootendorst is currently our only member who models in G scale (1:22.5) and his garden layout is very impressive.

Mark Viviers plans to start an O gauge (:48) in the new club house. The majority of members work in HO (1:87) with some OO (1:76).

The minority are the smaller scales of N (1:160) and Z (1:220)