The New Zealand Model Railway Guild began life in 1946 when members of the New Zealand Railway Correspondence Society with an interest in model railways formed a sub group. They published a supplement to the main news sheet and charged 2 shillings and six pence annually for it. The first issue was produced in August that year.

These first members initially ran under the wing of the N.Z.R.C.S. but in December 1947 they set up the New Zealand Model Railway Association. Their aim was to further the modelling of the N.Z. prototype and the official organ was to be The N.Z. Model Railway Journal. The subs increased to ten shillings ($1.00) per calendar year. In 1948 a constitution was agreed and the Journal became a regular publication of plans, layouts and informative articles. Although initially on cyclostyled foolscap pages (70 in total in 1949) it changed in 1960 to a folded foolscap format with a printed cover which also allowed photo's to be published.

A badge was included with the entrance fee for the Association from 1954, shown above. It was a membership feature until the Association became the Guild in July 1967.

The Guild has grown to a present membership exceeding 500 and over the years has had many successful conventions for members, inter-area visits and public displays. During 1997, a special meeting was held in Wellington to celebrate the 50th anniversay of the Guild.

The objective of the GUILD as set out in the constitution, is to provide a link between model railway enthusiasts for the encouragement of the modelling of New Zealand protoype. This link is presently being achieved by the publication of the New Zealand Model Railway Journal.

THE GUILD TODAY

The Guild does not have clubrooms but is a member of the Association of Model Railway Clubs and is there to assist, publicise and link together club activities relating to N.Z. prototype modelling. Each area has a representative of the Guild who will co-ordinate these local activities.

Becoming a member of the Guild gets you six issues of the Journal, the chance to meet with others with the same interests and informative monthly meetings where the accent is on all aspects of the railways of New Zealand. The Guild year starts with the August issue but if you are joining at any other time then you will receive all previous issues back to the August one.

Currently membership  is NZ$45 per year or NZ$58 for Australia  airmail and $65 airmail for the rest of the world.  To join, contact the area representative nearest you from the list below or write to the Secretary, PO Box 180116, Luckens Point, Waitakere, New Zealand.

Then you to will be able to enjoy the photographs in the Journal
Knowledgable discussion on real New Zealand railways topics.
Glimpses of layouts that look New Zealand.
Advertisments from local manufacturers who specialise in making NZ equipment.

Note that the Guild membership year starts on 1st July with a new Journal volume. Subscriptions taken out during the year will be given the opportunity to:

• receive the past issues for the Journal year - the August issue and on
• order back issues from previous years to the
  same value - handy if you already have some of this years issues.