East Kent O Gauge Group
The East Kent O Gauge Group, or EKOGG, was formed in 1986. Peter Hingley, John Batty and David Newton jointly issued a letter on 1 January 1986 (copy attached) inviting Gauge O Guild members living East of the river Medway to an inaugural meeting at the Fleurs de Lys hall in Faversham on 8 February 1986. 16 people said they would attend. Happily, all three originators remained members until their deaths many years later. Equally happily, the group quickly included non-Guild members ensuring access to more talent.
Hingley holding court in his garden probably in the first year of EKOGG
Membership flourished and rose to as high as 40 at one point. Initially, EKOGG provided exhibits to other clubs’ shows but eventually, from 1992, had an annual show of its own. During these years, members also met in small groups in their homes for running days and advice and demonstrations of modelling techniques. Many of the models produced in those meetings went on to appear in the annual modelling competition, something that has being going since the very beginning. Two members, Mick Hodden and Garth Wyver, subsequently moved overseas but have been kept in touch via the newsletters. We have only had three lady members so far. Victoria Grayson joined in 2014 but came to very few meetings and did not renew. Heather Kavanagh was a long-time member along with her partner Paul Prior, but both succumbed to ScaleSeven and left us. At the time of writing we have recently had the pleasure of Angela Barnard joining shortly after her husband, Martin.
In the early days there were just two trophies to be won, one for locos, the other for anything else. These were the Keen Trophy and the Tangye Trophy. The former was a parcels van from Geoffrey Kean’s GUR-RUG railway mounted on a plinth; the latter was a panel painted in full SECR livery on a display stand.
Since then we have added more trophies, all in the form of rolling stock on a plinth, for coaching stock, wagons and scenic items. However, in 2025 the group decided to stop giving trophies and now issues certificates (of excellence?) instead. These are easier to store and don’t have to be given back each year!
In 1991 Peter Hingley arranged and ran a loco scratchbuilding course (that he christened “the loco-bodging sessions) at a school in Chatham that had a fully-equipped metal working workshop. Two members who knew what they were doing, Malcolm Parker and David Newton, came along as advisers/instructors. I believe some even completed their projects. One of our then members, Nigel Grant, was a teacher at the school at the time but this was probably a coincidence ……..
A feature of the group from the earliest days has been talks given by visiting speakers as well as our own members on aspects of modelling and prototype railways. These have also been supported by slide shows and films. All this has encouraged the wide variety of interests that members have always shown. Thus we have had broad gauge, standard gauge, narrow gauge, industrials and main line, home and overseas, finescale, Scale7, tinplate, live steam, spring drive (clockwork to some…) as well as electric power. On the modelling front we have had the finest of expert modellers, the all-thumbs modellers and those, the majority, somewhere in between.
There has also been an annual quiz for many years. In the early years there was a prize such s a bottle of wine or railway DVDs. Each member took part as an individual and the winner got to set the following year’s quiz. In recent years, the membership has been divided into teams, the prize being the honour of winning and, as before, the requirement to set the following year’s quiz.
As stated above, the group started with meetings in Faversham. Peter Hingley owned a (really heavy) test track which he brought to each meeting but it was not possible to have anything permanent. However, in 2000 Alastair Malcolm joined the group. He owned a barn near Throwley to which he gave us free access. This meant we could have a layout permanently erected. Thus, we met in Faversham for talks, films and modelling and at the barn for running sessions, modelling and picnic lunches. One unfortunate downside to the barn was its need for refurbishment. So summer meetings were hot and winter meetings were cold and/or windy given the dislodged planks in the wall. And we won’t mention the rain ……
At the barn in Throwley, Tiny Morle and new member Barry Weston test Barry’s first 0 Gauge loco and a picture of the second set of underpinnings
Lunch at Throwley. Railway modelling is often carried out in such difficult circumstances ……..
Sadly, we lost Alastair in 2016 and were forced to seek a new home. Using contacts that a couple of members had in the village hall world, we were able to move into our current building in Badlesmere. Again, we cannot have a permanent set-up but there is sufficient storage for a test track and a couple of layouts, something we did not have in Faversham. The Faversham connection was lost during the pandemic and now all activities take place in the hall at Badlesmere.
Test track at Badlesmere A typical meeting: test track in use, modelling being done, conversations in full flow.
One of our more pioneering efforts was modules. These were built to a common standard. John Strong provided a metal template to ensure matching alignment of tracks and joining holes for bolts. They appeared in the Gazette in 1992 but never really reached their potential as an exhibition layout. Most were kept by their builders as photo boards. In 2025 all our information was provided to the Guild as part of the Guild’s now (2026) current modular project. This has appeared at a couple of shows and in the Summer 2026 Gazette.
The stand-out event of 2011 was the celebration of the 25th anniversary of EKOGG. This took place in the Fleurs de Lys hall and included talks by Peter Hingley and Les Gibson about the early days, a display of models old and new, a photo display of EKOGG over the years, the appearance of 31 members, some of whom could not make regular meetings, a spreadsheet showing a timeline of members (97 at the time, not all at the same time!), wine and a chocolate cake presented by Ross Shimmon, courtesy of Mrs Shimmon.
A view of some members at the 25th Anniversary celebration
Over the years EKOGG has liked to make an exhibition of itself. Initially this was with members’ layouts showing under the EKOGG flag (well, banner) but as time passed EKOGG has produced its own club layouts. These have been well received, so much so that invitations have been forthcoming from some of the better shows as new layouts have been prepared, even in the “under construction” stage. Exhibitions attended include Alexandra Palace, Ashford, Barham, Beckenham, Canterbury, Chatham, Doncaster, Erith, Faversham, Gravesend, Edington, Maidstone, Temple Ewell, Wells and Wigan. Geoff and Roger, along with the Guild’s Overseas Rep at the time (May 2014), took a display to Pacy-Sur-Eure in Northern France at the request of the Circle du Zero as part of their first show in 10 years. We have also offered a recruitment stand as an alternative to layouts to exhibition managers.
Recruitment stand at a Gravesend show, one of many we have attended.
Layouts that some may remember include Yamdale (John Strong), Worthdale (John Strong), Watlington (Tony Wibley), Cavedale (EKOGG, fixed in the barn), Nailbourne (EKOGG portable), Vine Street Yard and Kingsbury Terminal Railroad (Marshall Vine), Coles Yard (Roger Harmer), Edington Junction (EKOGG), Sarre (EKOGG) and Queen Charlotte Dock (EKOGG). At the time of writing, another layout, Lenham Junction, is an early stage of construcion, along with a micro layout, Balesham. In addition, Geoff Roberts has exhibited many micro layouts and dioramas under the EKOGG banner.
Edington Junction
Edington Junction came from a desire to have a “proper” exhibition layout. While the Group pondered options, the Secretary, David, committed us to an exhibition at, believe it or not, Edington (in Somerset in case you wondered.) The opportunity was taken to involve members in tasks that they had not considered before such as track laying from C&L parts, signal construction and scratchbuilding models of prototype buildings.
This project could not involve all members so a another group built a smaller layout, Sarre, created mostly from second-hand stuff like PECO track and points and pre-loved buildings with some extra structures from Jim May, John Bullimore and Roger Harmer. David Hopkins produced cassettes for the fiddle yard, a first for us.
Sarre
After a number of exhibitions Edington and Sarre were sold and a new layout, Queen Charlotte Dock, begun. This has been exhibited a number of times as a layout under construction, progress being noted by regular show-going members of the public.
Queen Charlotte Dock
We have reached national fame, too. Sarre has appeared in the Gauge O Gazette in November 2019; Edington Junction in the Gazette in November 2015 and May 2018 as well as British Railway Modelling in 2018. Vine Street Yard was in the Continental Modeller in 2003 and Kingsbury Terminal Railroad in the Gazette. Mike Perry was interviewed By Tim for the Gazette in 2024. Other members have appeared in the Gazette with construction articles and product reviews. A look at the Gazette index will show where to look.
The membership has, over the years, included luminaries from other societies. Our members have included the first five Constituency Reps for the Guild as well as a Guild Secretary, Guild Overseas Rep, Guild Treasurer and Finance Team members, Guild News editor, Chairman and Secretary of the SECR Society, Secretary of the GER Society, Chairman of the Broad Gauge Society, the Editor of ‘The Colonel’ quarterly magazine of the Colonel Stephens Society, volunteers on the K&ESR, the Lavender Line and the Spa Valley Railway as well as Museum Attendant at the Col, Stephens Museum in Tenterden among others.
For quite a while, the group modelled in much the same way as many other clubs of its age, which is steam traction. However, as new members have joined the group and existing members have chosen to follow the prototype, ideas have changed and all forms of traction are now to be found. That does not mean that steam is forgotten, only that diesels and multiple units are also becoming more popular in part thanks to the amazing amount of RTR now available. Similarly, there seems to be a greater focus on what is behind the engine than in the past. This has been encouraged at EKOGG with the idea of themed days. Some meetings might have trains of all coal wagons or all vans or all bogie wagons or all passenger stock or different company or livery days. As good as RTR can be, many members still resort to kits or scratchbuilding for vehicles that are not otherwise available. It is worth looking at the Gallery on our website to see from whence we came and what some of the people mentioned and their work look like.
To finish, some samples of members’ models:
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Just some of the things that interest us with apologies to the members who model the many railways, domestic and foreign, that are not shown here. Almost certainly some of us are modelling most of them!
We have been fortunate in that our numbers have remained fairly consistent. Although we have lost many to old age, we have been able to recruit other modellers. Part of the attraction appears to be that, within the group, we continue to share experiences and knowledge through skills exchange meetings much as Peter, John and David intended at the start. They would be proud.
My thanks to the many members who have contributed to these notes. Errors and omissions are, of course, mine and can be corrected in subsequent updates.
RWH 21/09/2026
