Our history
Our first event was as a one-day exhibition on September 18th 1965 with just five small layouts, a film show and over 1000 people attended. Admission was 1/- (5p) adults 6d (2½p) children. Three more shows were then held during 1966, 1967 and 1968 as interest in model railways grew.

The club officially formed on the 9th October 1968 due to a rise in requests to join, this resulted in 34 members joining. It was agreed to call the group the St. John’s (Mickleover) Model Railway Group with meetings held on alternate Fridays in the church hall and they held an exhibition the following year on the 13th and 14th of September 1969.

The club continued using the church hall, but needed their own dedicated space as using the church hall meant that all the layouts had to be unpacked and then packed away after each meeting with not a lot of running time in-between.

In 1982, the Derby City Council wanted to stage a model railway exhibition in the Assembly Rooms, with this being the main theatre and exhibition centre in Derby and the club was asked for help – this would go on to be the first of the annual Derby Model Railway Exhibition, which became one of the premier shows in the country. Since the Assembly Rooms became unaffordable, we moved to Moorways Sports Centre until that closed for redevelopment and then become established at the Derby Roundhouse opposite the station and part of Derby College. With the 2020 ‘Lockdown’ the College closed the Roundhouse to all external events and although we had bookings for the next three years, these were all cancelled and our deposits returned.

In 1989 an opportunity to lease a part of the old Mickleover school arose when this building became Mickleover Community Centre. This was a separate building and although a lot of work was needed, the club members dedicated themselves to it and MMRG moved into their very own clubroom in late 1990.

The Club now meets on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights from 7pm in the clubroom at the back of Mickleover Community Centre and has running layouts in OO, N gauge and O gauge.