Tonbridge first had a Model Railway Club back in the early 1950s, and two exhibitions were put on in this period. However, the club collapsed due to a lack of enthusiasm from members towards its organisation.

The current Tonbridge Model Railway Club had its first meeting in April 1980, organised by Brian Herriott. This meeting was held over the Constitutional Club in Tonbridge, meetings during the early years consisted of a number of talks on varying modelling and prototypical subjects as well as work on the club’s first layout, ‘Umbridge’.

The clubs first exhibition was put on in January 1981, and since then the exhibition has occurred annually, growing considerably in size each year. At the first exhibition, there was a grand total of 4 layouts! Which was held in the ex-Council Chamber at Tonbridge Castle. The 1982 show moved to the Angel Leisure Centre, and has remained there ever since.

During the mid 80s work commenced on new club layouts called ‘Bridgeton’ and ‘Brambletye’. 1985 saw Paul Tasker constructing the track for another new layout, ‘The Brewery’ which featured both standard and narrow gauge. The club also changed its location to a room above the Prince Albert pub in Vale Road, where it remained until 1986. It moved again to the Angel Centre for Tuesday night talks, and the Tonbridge Scout Hut for Thursday construction nights.

1987 saw the introduction of club shirts, while during 1988, the idea of building a modular club layout was popular among members, although this failed to get off the ground.

The 1991 exhibition suffered from a snowfall, and as a result, only two of the fifteen visiting layouts turned up! During 1992 the club had its storage shed erected allowing layout storage at the Scout hut, prior to this members had to bring layouts to and from club nights.

1993 saw the disposal of Brambletye to make room for a new 00 layout to be constructed by the club, and also the first modelling competition was held at Christmas. In 1996, the exhibition featured 22 layouts, whilst the 009 group is considering building a new layout.

During 1997, efforts were made to twin TMRC with the Heusenstamm club in Germany, which was a success, and the ‘The Brewery’ is stripped of anything useful. In 1999 the Germans visited during June, and Barncombe Junction (the new 00 layout) neared completion.

In 2000 the club’s website was launched, and Brian Herriot stepped-down as position of Exhibition Manager having held this role since the very first show.