I had the privilege of joining the RSME (The Reading Society of Model Engineers) last month, it was a gloriously sunny April morning and our 2 year old Thomas mad little boy was very excited. I headed to the tea shed, where I was greeted by the most amazingly warm and gentle man Peter Harrison he is the Secretary of the Reading Society of Model Engineers.
Any nervousness I had about shooting there vanished when he shook my hand, immediately his concern was that our little boy, he navigated us to the back of the tea shed where all manner of tinkering was occurring. Mini steam engineers were everywhere, fixing little springs, shoveling tiny pieces of coal onto tiny little shovels which would not have been out of place in a doll’s house. Our little boy could not contain his excitement!
The sun shone on the faces of engineers and mini steam engines, giving the whole day a surreal experience. My husband and our son were directed to an extremely friendly visiting engineer from another club – Bournemouth. The visiting engineer and my boys could be seen and heard chugging along on the half mile mini train track in Prospect Park all morning long.
Peter talked to me about the history of the society and it’s current workings. It’s funded by the public runs days, when children are welcome to come along to ride the trains for a small fee,  the money goes towards rent  paid to Reading Council. Every Wednesday a team of mostly retired people come along to tend to the gardens, they’re affectionately known as the Wednesday Warriors. It’s a chance for people who might not otherwise have any social interaction to come along and meet.
As I try to get a couple of shot to test the light, I notice another friendly face peering at me. ‘Are you from the press?’ he asked. “No” I reply, he tells me his name is Mike Sinclair, he tells me all about the tracks, theres 2.5″, 3.5″ and 5″ raised track, there is also a 5″ and 7.25″ ground track for the bigger engines. Mike bought his first train set when he was 14, the novelty clearly never wore off. He ushered me over to the pit station where his pride and joy sits gleaming in the sun. He tells me her name is “Lancashire Witch”, there’s a story behind the name, I’ll leave you to google for yourselves.
Another younger member, Ian tells me his late father in law left him his rather impressive train, he isn’t as interested in the trains themselves but loves to fix things, and the trains always need fixing! Mid sentence he rushes off and says if he doesn’t fix the issue of the steam build up in his little train it may explode! He returns with a little tool to release the steam, and calm is restored.
Peter tells me that some of the members have in the past had a history of depression and find the social aspect of the mini steam train renovation helps to keep the demons at bay, Peter himself admits to suffering from depression in the past and how the society has helped him. It was with a culpable sense of sadness that Peter tells me that they have had a theft recently of a members loco, it is a subject that I felt that we could not continue with as it has obviously affected a number of the members that work so hard to make the railway a friendly and appealing place to be.
The weather became chilly but the spirits never dampened, a small army of mini steam train engineers tinker away, oblivious to the world around them and the joy they bring to little boys and girls on their public running days.
My son is exhausted and has fallen asleep in the car, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction and calm from my visit. I wonder how I replicate this feeling in my day to day life. You see this society is far more than people meeting in a park to fix trains. It’s a community.
