Club History
The original club was known as The Llanelli Model & Experimental Engineering Society and is believed to have been in existance since the nineteen thirties or earlier. In the very early seventies the club as it was then, moved from its established base in Copperworks Road, to a new location in Llanerch Fields Area. However, due to a combination of events that included the sad loss of Jake Jones, the main man in the club at that time, the move did not prove to be successful in the long term.
In 1983 four ex club members, George and the late John Golightly, Richard Sourbutts, Roger Webb, met up in the Nags Head Public House in Llangennech. Together they decided to reform the club.
Not having a track of their own they travelled to other clubs, Cardiff, Swansea, and Bristol. Gradually the club started to exband. With this in mind Richard wrote to the Local Authority requesting a suitable location to site a miniature railway track. The authority replied that there was a location in Pembrey Country Park and, as it just so happens, sometimes, there was also a plan to build a miniature railway.
The Local Authority intended to build a 1600ft elevated, three and a half and five inch, track, the deal included a steam engine & rolling stock and the club was invited to run it.
The members who went to view the work in progress were shown what would have been a dream come true for any model engineer ~ a miniature railway track running through a picturesque landscape of pine trees, and not only, but also, there were plans for a station and a club house.
Since then the club has gone from strength to strength, due to the unique location of the track, we have been the only club in Wales to host International Model Locomotive Efficiency Competition, we did it in 1997 and again in 2007. We hold two rallies a year, Spring and Autumn Rally, and until 2008 we ran the Welsh IMLEC competition, the Local Authority now hosts another event in June which meant the WIMLEC is no longer held.
In 2005, our Autumn Rally was expanded to a road and rail event which is proving to be a popular date on the traction engine calender, as the country park has the space to accomodate that side of the hobby, as well as challenging road run into the village of Pembrey. We also hosted The Southern Federation Rally some twenty years ago and hosted it again in 2009. It was a very well attended rally inspite of some blustery weather conditions.
We have relaid the five inch and built a seven & a quarter inch, ground level track, the 2000 foot circuit is complete as is the signal box. The track was tried by out by some invited guests at the Autumn Rally 2009, who gave it the thumbs up, but we still have a few things to iron out before it can be signed off and be fully up and running for an official opening, originally planned for 2010, but at the moment there is no set date for the official opening but it looks more like 2012 than 2011, but that can change.
The project to fit out a carriage shed and refurbish our club house has been completed, although the clubhouse has only had a quick makeover with a lick of paint and a bit of TLC as we plan to extend to the right of the building and move the kitchen to allow more room for a meeting area but that work isn’t planned until after the Autumn Rally, in the meantime building the new steaming bays is the main priority.
We are a public limited company to protect our members and are still making progress to becoming a registered charity this year.
As with all clubs, it is a gathering of people from all backgrounds with a shared common interest. Visitors who first ventured, some twenty or more years ago, into the wilds of west Wales, have come back again and again and become country members and firm friends, and every season the list grows, at one time it was just visitors to the railway but now we have steam traction engines swelling the ranks.