Sorry, the exhibition is now closed!

history

The Isle of Wight Model Railways Exhibition has been in its present location since 1995. It first appeared in a location behind Cowes Marina in 1983 at which time it was acknowledged to be the largest model railway show in Great Britain. It had a British scene, an Alpine scene and a massive American mountain area. Sadly, its building and much of the layout were damaged beyond repair in the Great Storm of October 1987 and a new start had to be made. In 1990 an agreement was made with Railtrack to build a new layout in the old waiting room of St. John’s Road Station on the original railway from Ryde Pier to Shanklin. To enable a fast rebuild, a model railway which had been at the Needles Pleasure Park and which had also closed after the 1987 storm was bought and became the core of the new display, - this time an all British Railways show.

In 1994 an opportunity arose to return the show to Cowes at the present site. The Ryde show was closed at the end of the summer and work began on our new exhibition. Because the new building was smaller than before no attempt could be made to build the ‘largest in the land’ but some ingenuity allowed a dramatic show to be put on in the space available.

The new exhibition was opened by the Isle of Wight MP in time for the summer season of 1995 and has been open ever since except for a few weeks in the winter for maintenance and improvements. Building a show like this is a massive task. With scenery rising to the high ceiling, the layout is constructed more like a building than a mere set of tables. There are miles of cable and much more track is hidden than can be seen. Operation is largely automatic but small machines running day in and day out require much maintenance and it cannot be assumed everything will always work. A broken axle, for example, can lead to a damaging accident as can happen in real life. We have had the experience of a sixty-car freight train being derailed by a passing broken wheeled train and the whole lot tumbling off bridges onto trains below! But we prefer to take risks to make sure our trains are truly exciting to watch!