The Story of Portsmouth Railex

​

Portsmouth Railex is a model railway exhibition that takes place at Horndean Technology College every February. ​ 

​

The exhibition is organised and operated by Richard and Dan with assistance from our group of volunteers – Elizabeth, Theo, Alex, Beth, Rachael, Stuart, Noah and Eve.

​

Portsmouth Railex is an independent exhibition that brings together model railway layouts, traders and societies from all around the UK to showcase the world of model railways to visitors from Hampshire and further afield.

 

Where it began – Victory Model Railway Club.

Richard, Dan and some of our volunteers are members of Victory Model Railway Club, based in Portsmouth. Every year VMRC held its annual model railway exhibition at Admiral Lord Nelson School in May. This was a one-day event that always attracted a good number of visitors. 

For a long time, members of the VMRC had asked to turn the exhibition into a two-day event. This would enable the club to invite larger layouts and traders to attend as many are unable to do one days shows with the length of time it takes to set up and break down, making one day exhibitions not worthwhile.

​

Portsmouth Railex – An exhibition is born.

Eventually it was decided that VMRC would pursue the idea of a two-day show and the task was given to Richard, the club exhibition manager, to arrange and organise.

The first hurdle was the venue. Due to other venue commitments, a two-day exhibition could not be held at Admiral Lord Nelson School, so a new venue had to be found and The Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth was found to be the ideal location.

Exhibition planning was quickly underway with layouts and traders being sought and invited from around the country.

​

Disaster Strikes – The outbreak.

The first two-day exhibition was planned for May 2021, but due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the government restrictions that followed, the exhibition had to be cancelled. After a lot of hard work, this was devastating for the club. Plans continued behind the scenes with many telephone calls and emails and eventually the exhibition was able to go ahead in May 2022.

​

Exhibition Time – The show must go on.

May 2022 quickly rolled round and the huge hall within the Mountbatten Centre was quickly filled with model railway layouts, traders and societies. It was an impressive sight and a testament to all the hard work put in by Richard and club members supported by friends and relatives.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Unfortunately, despite all of the best efforts of everyone involved, the visitor numbers were very low, most likely due to the on-going concerns around Covid-19. With the huge costs of putting on such a large exhibition and a number of issues at the venue it was a financial disaster with much of the club funds depleted and no way of recovering the costs involved. It was decided by the club committee, that any further exhibitions would not be viable in the near future.

 

The Victory Model Railway Club did however survive the financial downfall following the exhibition and continues to meet at its club room every Tuesday evening and is always seeking new members to join. For more information about VMRC, please visit: https://victory-model-railway-club.webador.co.uk/

​

We don’t give up that easily – The exhibition is reborn.

Whilst gathering information on layouts and traders for the 2022 exhibition, work had already begun on planning the 2023 exhibition of which many layouts and traders had already been invited. With VMRC deciding not to continue with the exhibition, Richard wanted to put all of his hard work to good use. It was decided that the exhibition would continue separate from the club and funded privately with the eventual aim that the exhibition would be able to fund itself. 

​

A new venue – Portsmouth Railex finds a new home.

Having found a new venue for exhibition, Richard mentioned his idea to Dan and they soon started to work together to create the new Portsmouth Railex. Richard planned the exhibition, inviting layouts from near and far whilst Dan worked away in the background on the admin side and putting together our small group of volunteers to help run the show.

In February 2023, the new exhibition opened its doors at Horndean Technology College to the admiring public. The exhibition was fantastic but once again, fell short of visitor numbers. This did not put us off and we were determined to make it work. A big learning curve lay ahead. As soon as the doors had closed on the Sunday and all the layouts and traders packed down and departed, work quickly started on the next exhibition for 2024.

​

The following years – Can we make this work?

Before we knew it, February 2024 was soon upon us. With lessons learnt from the previous year, things fell into place much more easily. The hall had already started to feel like a second home to us. With furniture relocated, the hall was prepared for the arrival of layouts and traders. It almost felt like we were now professionals. 

Both the 2024 and 2025 exhibitions passed by so quickly, but the work never stopped. Surprisingly, a two day exhibition is nearly a full time job. Both years saw an increase in visitor numbers but we weren’t quite there yet. We worked hard to advertise the exhibition and did everything we could to encourage visitors but we could start to see a future for the exhibition where it would be able to support itself financially. With the introduction of our ‘now famous’ exhibition raffle and our own second hand stall in 2024 things we’re looking up. 

​

2026 – Will this be the year of success?

Our best show so far was held in February 2026, with an increase in layouts, traders, societies and visitor numbers. Word had finally started spreading about Portsmouth Railex and we began to see returning visitors as well as many new visitors. It wasn’t just model railway enthusiasts attending, we were seeing families and local people coming to see the exhibition. Our fourth exhibition at Horndean Technology College was hailed a success and not only did it fund itself, but it also contributed towards our 2027 exhibition.

​

The purpose – What did we actually want to achieve?

Whilst putting the final touches to the 2026 exhibition, over a few drinks one evening (the kind that don’t require milk and sugar), Dan asked Richard what he wanted to achieve with the exhibition. Surely, there had to be a purpose behind our madness. Dan, who had previously helped run exhibitions to raise money for charity suggested to Richard that maybe we could do the same. Richard agreed and it was decided that a local charity or project would be nominated each year. Our successful 2026 exhibition led us to sponsoring the Hilsea Station Adoption Project with a small donation towards their rent for the station building.

Portsmouth Railex 2027 will once again be making a donation to a local charity or project which had already been decided and will be announced in the near future.

​

What’s next – Portsmouth Railex 2027, of course.

Planning is well underway for our 2027 exhibition. This will be a week earlier than usual due to venue availability and will take place on 13th and 14th February. Some big announcements regarding the show will be made in the near future but all we can say for now is that it will be bigger and better than before.

 

We look forward to seeing you all in 2027.

 

Richard and Dan

and the Portsmouth Railex Team