Welcome to Midland Railway Centre website (still under construction).

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Historical

The business was registered in 1979 and was primarily involved with dealing in collectible model trains, specialising in such makes as Hornby, Hornby-Dublo, Trix, Tri-ang and Marklin. Later, I branched out into the production of turntable kits in the popular scales of 4mm (00 & EM), 7mm/1:48 (gauge 0) and 10mm/3/8in.(gauge 1). Additionally, production included various items for use in construction and testing of model locomotives, such as Axle Alignment Tool (for accurate setting of axle spacing to align with coupling rod hole centres), Modular Rolling Road (for dynamic testing of locos, steam or electric, in gauges from 0 to 5in.) and Wheel Quartering Jig (gauge 0 & 1).

In 1995, following the acquisition of a small toolmaking company, operations were moved to a unit on an industrial estate, and with access to machinery, both conventional and CNC, a range of metal-forming tools was introduced. These included Rolling Bars, Bending Bars, Rivet Embossing Tool and a bench-mounted precision Metal Cutting Guillotine, all of which became popular with model-makers, instrument makers and model engineers. Contract work was also undertaken, designing and producing jigs and fixtures, as well as general precision engineering, and we became stockholders of non-ferrous metals, particularly sheet, rod, tube and geometric sections in brass, copper and nickel-silver. At the same time, the business name was changed to Metalsmith Ltd., to reflect the fact that not all of our products had a railway connection.

This situation continued until 2015 when the lease on the factory unit expired. Some of the small machine tools were moved to my home workshop, and the non-ferrous side of the business was sold, along with the company name. Production continued, albeit on a much reduced scale due to restricted workshop area, and the business name reverted once again to Midland Railway Centre.

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Current situation

Due to my semi-retirement, manufacturing is being wound-down, and many of the items listed are residual stock. Production of turntable kits in all scales has ceased, although the search is on for a new proprietor who will continue the popular range. Likewise, production of certain metal-forming tools has also ceased, apart from those listed within this site, although these are in limited supply, and when stocks are exhausted will not be repeated. Some of the metals listed, (which were not part of the previous sale), are in plentiful supply.

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Terms of trading

Please make contact by phone or email to check availability. All goods are supplied by mail-order, for which payment is required by credit or debit card (but not Amex). For reasons of security, do not send sensitive card data by emai - I will send a Card Encoder File (Excel) which is returned as a scrambled 25-digit code. A similar Card Decoder File is then used to reveal the card details. In order to comply with Data Protection Regulations, card details are not stored electronically, but deleted once the transaction is completed, (by means of the Square Up app.. which sends an immediate text receipt.). A paper invoice is also attached to the packed order.  Exceptionally, home visits may be made by prior arrangement.

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Dave

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January 2023