Workington Model Railway Exhibition
*The 2026 Exhibition at Energus has been postponed until 2027*
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About SOLRAIL
About SOLRAIL
History
Workington has hosted Model Railway Exhibitions in the town for several decades. Originally in the Carnegie arts centre and organised by the Workington Model Railway Club, when faced with declining membership, the club folded and the future of the exhibition looked bleak. In stepped Alistair Grey and the Workington Transport Heritage Trust who were instrumental in finding a new home in the Moorclose Sports Centre and ran the event as a fund raiser with the help of several local model railway enthusiasts.
The WTHT, with limited resources were unable to continue supporting the exhibition and it was once again in jeopardy.
A group of local railway modellers, rail enthusiasts, and model engineers, (some with long associations with the exhibition) got together and formed a not-for-profit company with the goal of continuing the annual model railway exhibition. In 2014 the exhibition moved to the excellent ENERGUS venue where we have staged the event very successfully since.
Today
Solrail comprises a small number of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers. We welcome anyone willing to assist with the running of the exhibition. If you would like to exhibit, or help support us, during or leading up to the exhibition, we would like to hear from you.
We make a special effort to welcome family visitors . We do not charge admission for accompanied children.
We attract support from several local groups and are especially grateful for the help and cooperation we enjoy from the West Cumberland Guild of Model Engineers, Workington Transport Heritage Centre, and the Cumbrian Railways Association.
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The Exhibition Manager is Mr. P. Tuer Contact
Above: Long Melford Junction was voted the best layout by the public, making the journey all the way from Ipswich, very worthwhile.
Reflections.
We thought our 2024 was the best ever, but the 2025 exhibition was very much the equal and attracted many positive comments from our visitors. We are also pleased to report an increase in visitor numbers and know that they travelled from as far as Balmoral and London.
We are grateful for the many individuals who support the exhibition directly but also several local modellers who bring their layouts to us year after year, and to local businesses who sponsor us. Without all this input we could not sustain our very popular exhibition.
Once again we want to pay special thanks to the Energus team, our hosts. We count ourselves extremely fortunate to enjoy a magnificent venue that is staffed by a brilliant and motivated team who give us exceptional support. We really appreciate it. Special praise to the IT team, Security, and the refreshments staff.
We welcomed more children than ever before , and the room set aside for seasoned finescale modellers was always very busy.
We are really looking forward to our 2026 exhibition. We have several top quality layouts based on the Railways of the North West.
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