There is always something going on at Wester Pickston! This section of our site gives updates of what we are working on, and other trust related information.
Wester Pickston has been basking in the sunshine over much of March and April, giving the members of the Scottish Model Engineering Trust the opportunity to get the site ready for our first open day of 2025 - Sunday 20th April!
The team have been hard at work:
Preparing locos, old and new Building new guard trucks Replacing split sleepers Stripping old paint and replacing it Preparing additional signals Clearing storm-damaged trees Clearing leaves (there are plenty of them!) And much more! …
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We are pleased to announce that our annual exhibition will, as usual, be held over the last weekend of June, that is 28th & 29th June at the Dewars Centre in Perth.
The venue has undergone some major changes since last year’s event resulting in one of the halls being now unavailable to us. However, we have acquired some additional space upstairs at the venue instead and are looking forward to presenting our exhibition consisting of 30 quality model railway layouts, 21 well known trade …
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Each year, the model railway scene in Scotland starts with a bang at Model Rail Scotland. The largest model rail exhibition in Scotland (with our own, at the end of June, being the next largest), Model Rail Scotland attracts thousands of enthusiasts to the SEC in Glasgow. This year, our model railway group (Perth Model Railway Group - PMRG) were in attendance with Calla Fountain Crossing layout. SMET also had a stand advertising our larger-scale ride on railway. Both were a huge success at the …
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In the following article, Malcolm Metcalfe (a SMET member), explores the world of DSG lathes from around the 1970s.
Dean, Smith and Grace: The best medium sized lathes. Probably. In the aftermath of the second world war, although hard to believe now, the UK was a powerhouse of industrial activity. It had innumerable machine tool manufacturers including Herbert, who at that time was the largest in Europe. However whilst some products were mediocre others were constructed to exacting standards …
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We are delighted to say that our model railway group, Perth and District Model Railway Group (PMRG) have added another trophy to their collection! This time taking “Best in Show, as voted for by the public” award at Falkirk’s recent model rail show.
We exhibited Calla Fountain Crossing, a relatively new N gauge layout depicting a north American mountainside. A lot of different people have contributed to the layout; for the modeling, electrics, the backdrop, and everything else …
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Our model railway group, Perth and District Model Railway Group (PMRG) were at Curl Aberdeen this weekend (26/27th October) for Aberdeen Model Railway Club’s model exhibition. A number of our member took the trip up to Aberdeen, taking our “Newton Ferrier” layout with them. This is one of our newest layouts and it ran impeccably well throughout the show, receiving many positive comments, with particular plaudits for the back scene, for its perspective and artistry.
We are …
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Once again, our resident photographer and videographer, Andrew Gebbie, has put together a fantastic set of videos, recording every layout that was present at our annual show. The videos are embedded below, or you can find them on Andrew’s YouTube channel - Heritage & Model Rail
Introduction Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 2025 Planning is already well underway for our 2025 show, and we’ll see you back at the Dewars Centre in Perth next year! Keep an eye on this site for all details of the …
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As part of our model railway exhibition this year, as with every year, we have a number of awards to present for excellence in different areas of model railway modelling. We had four categories of awards this year:
The Harburn Hobbies Trophy for best in show as voted by the public went to G Scale Scotland for their layout Harz Mountain Experience. The Ten Commandments/Greenscene Trophy for architectural modelling was presented to Les Nehrlich for his layout Lily Lane. The Jimmy Robertson Cup for …
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We were delighted to be invited to the annual Gala at Bridge of Earn on Saturday 8th June. After a week of anxiously watching the weather forecast, it turned out to be a very present day and the team of volunteers from SMET enjoyed setting up the track in Victory Park and giving rides on an electric loco (diesel outline). An estimated 300 rides were taken.
Thank you for everyone who came to see us! Don’t forget, there will be a lot more train action at our own annual show at the end of the …
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Advanced tickets for Perth Model Railway Exhibition 2024 are now available! We’ve teamed up with Perth Box Office again, allowing you to purchase tickets online by clicking the button below. After clicking the button, you’ll be shown a calender that you can use to select which date you would like to come to the show on (if you want to come on both days, just select one, and on the next page select the “Weekend Ticket” option). You’ll then be able to select the …
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