1923
01
The first spark
Model supplier H. P. Jackson placed an advert seeking like-minded York engineers. The first attempt did not take—but the idea stayed warm.
Our story · 1929 to now
Forged in York.
Still in motion.
A Society carried through borrowed rooms, lost tracks, wartime workshops and sheer persistence to a permanent railway home.
The long read
We’ve always built
the next chapter.
The first club meetings were mostly discussion nights in public houses. But “Live Steam Nights” brought locomotives to a test bed, stationary engines to life—and even a flash-steam boat into action.
What follows is a story of ingenuity under pressure: every time the Society lost a home, its members stored the rails and started again.
1929
02
Thirty-six founders
On 15 September, 36 people met in Micklegate and formed the York City and District Society of Model and Experimental Engineers. ‘Experimental’ was dropped in 1946.
1947
03
Built by the Big Four
After the war, a raised track was erected at Stockton Lane. Its rails were made by members in LNER workshops; parts still run in today’s Dringhouses track.
1949
04
Bishopthorpe years
Following the loss of Stockton Lane, a circular raised track, exhibitions and open days found a new home at Bishopthorpe. Membership grew to around 50.
1967
05
Beside the main line
Builder Jack Birch offered land at Moor Lane. Over 18 years members added a station, roofed steaming bay and a track familiar to observant East Coast passengers.
1989
06
A permanent home
The Society took possession of former railway sidings at Dringhouses after purchasing the land from British Rail. A clubhouse and track rose from ground deep in NER and LNER ash.
NOW
07
Still in motion
Nearly a century after that Micklegate meeting, new generations keep building, teaching and running—on land connected to York railways since Victorian times.
From the archive
Mr W. Shearman’s
early history, 1929–1982.
A six-page account copied from the notebook of a founding member, recording the Society’s workshops, tracks, setbacks and survival in remarkable detail.
Read the original PDFThe railway runs on steel.
The Society runs on people.