Leeds model railway exhibition visitors get 22 layouts over two days this weekend, from a locomotive works at Hunslet to a station on the Czech-Polish border.
A school in north Leeds fills with model trains for a weekend; adults pay £10, and children come free. That is the version on the event listings, and it is accurate as far as it goes.
The listings skip who runs it. The Leeds Model Railway Society formed on 1 September 1947, when a small group of enthusiasts met above the Model Engineering Centre on Wade Lane. This is the society’s 71st exhibition, and the layouts include one that re-creates the Leeds locomotive builders’ works.
The show runs on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October 2026. Here is what is on, what it costs, and how a society that started above a shop ended up on the A61.
Region: North Leeds, West Yorkshire
Best for: Railway modellers, families with children, and anyone curious about Leeds locomotive history
Getting there: The Grammar School at Leeds, Alwoodley Gates, Harrogate Road, Leeds LS17 8GS; free car parking on site
Time needed: Two to three hours; doors are 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturday and 10:00 to 16:30 on Sunday
Leeds Model Railway Exhibition 2026: Dates, Times and Tickets
Saturday 24 October runs from 10:00 to 17:00. Sunday 25 October runs from 10:00 to 16:30. Adults pay £10; the programme is free, and up to three children get in free with every paying adult.
The society promotes free car parking and hot and cold refreshments. Its 2026 page does not mention step-free access, so email lmrsmembership@gmail.com before you travel if you need to check routes.
Fourteen names make up the trade list: Crafty Hobbies, Squires, DC Kits, Frizinghall Models, Going Loco, Helm Hobbies, Genesis Models, Millennium Models, MTFG Hobbies, North Road Trains, JS Models, Nick Tozer, Road and Rail Collectables and Sweets of Yesteryear.
Expect the hum of small motors and the click of hand controllers once you are past the door. The clocks also go back at 02:00 on Sunday 25 October, so check your phone before you set off.
Where to Stay: Weetwood Hall Hotel, Leeds. The hotel says it is built around a Jacobean manor house, with parts dating back to 1540.
Worth Knowing: A listing for the 2025 show gave 20 layouts and 14 traders; the 2026 page lists 22 layouts.
A Society Founded Above a Shop on Wade Lane
The society’s own history says its founders met above the Model Engineering Centre on Wade Lane, Leeds, and first called themselves the Model Railway Society (Leeds). They held their first five meetings there.
Its first outing was a coach trip to a post-war model railway exhibition in Manchester, on 20 December. After Wade Lane, the members moved into the Leeds Model Company canteen at Potterdale Mills on Dewsbury Road, for a nominal rent of one shilling a week. The society’s page gives that as 5p.
More moves followed. The society used St Anne’s Cathedral Institute from December 1949 and Enfield Yard in Sheepscar from November 1951. It then spent eight years in a large ground-floor room on Park Street, leaving in November 1960.
Eight more premises followed before the present one. For security reasons, the society does not publish the current clubroom location.
Where to Stay: The Queens Hotel, Leeds. A Grade II listed Art Deco hotel that opened in 1937 beside the station.
Worth Knowing: The society’s first exhibition was a small one at St Stephen’s School in Kirkstall, in November 1950.
From the Corn Exchange to a School on the A61
The society held its first Corn Exchange exhibition in November 1952. The society ran those shows until 1985, when it moved the exhibition to Armley Sports and Leisure Centre. Today it takes place at Leeds Grammar School on the A61 (Harrogate Road).
In 1952, the society also exhibited a layout at the Festival of Britain celebrations in Leeds.
The school has a longer history than the show. It dates back to 1552, when William Sheafield’s bequest founded Leeds Grammar School. The school moved from Moorland Road to its current Alwoodley site in 1997. The boys’ and girls’ schools merged legally in 2005, and the girls joined the boys on the Alwoodley site about three years later.
Where to Stay: Clayton Hotel Leeds, Leeds. A city centre hotel that says the station is a five-minute walk away.
Worth Knowing: The society’s history page names only one layout, the one it showed at the 1952 Festival of Britain celebrations in Leeds.
Hunslet Works: A Layout for a Lost Industry
One of the 22 layouts is called Hunslet Works. The organiser describes it as an O gauge re-creation of the Leeds locomotive builders’ works, a fitting subject for this city.
The civil engineering contractor John Towlerton Leather founded the Hunslet Engine Company in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet. Its first locomotive, Linden, followed in 1865: a standard gauge 0-6-0 saddle tank delivered to Brassey and Ballard. The 1,000th locomotive was finished in 1909.
The Jack Lane works closed in 1995. Its last order was a batch of narrow gauge diesel locomotives for tunnelling on the Jubilee Line Extension.
A second layout in the hall covers similar ground: Queensbury Depot, an O gauge diesel depot in the British Rail blue era. Look for the two together if you want to compare how modellers handle working industrial sites.
Where to Stay: Weetwood Hall Hotel, Leeds. The hotel boasts nine acres of woodland and gardens.
Worth Knowing: The Middleton Railway, which began running steam locomotives in 1812, is also in Hunslet, the same district as the old works.
Narrow Gauge Layouts, From Devon to British Columbia
Four layouts use narrow gauge. Lane End is a 009 layout set on the UK narrow gauge. Porthoriog is an imaginary line in North Wales, also in 009. Bratton Fleming models a station on the Lynton and Barnstaple line. Nicola Landing is a North American mixed-gauge narrow-gauge layout set in British Columbia, built in 0n2 and 0n3.
009 is a 1:76 modelling scale that runs on 9 mm track and represents a prototype gauge of 2 ft 3 in.
The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway opened on 11 May 1898 and ran for just over 19 miles. Its last train ran on 29 September 1935. Bratton Fleming station sat between Chelfham and Blackmoor, and its stationmaster John James Baker served from September 1904 until 30 September 1931, the longest of any on the line.
After closure, the station became a private house. Exmoor Associates bought it in 2020, and the reopened section of the line now runs between Woody Bay and Killington Lane.
Where to Stay: The Queens Hotel, Leeds. The hotel replaced a Midland Railway hotel built on the same site in 1863.
Worth Knowing: Nicola Landing is also on the York Model Railway Show’s 2027 layout list.
Beyond Yorkshire: Layouts From the Alps to Washington State
Several layouts come from overseas. Auswiss runs standard- and metre-gauge trains in eastern Switzerland. Altenburger models East Germany between 1990 and 2000, with a mix of DR and DB trains. Harrachov sits on the Czech-Polish border and runs trains from both countries. Kamiack Falls covers the Burlington Northern era in Washington State.
British subjects are just as varied. Chapel en le Frith is a Peak District station on the old Midland main line during the steam-to-diesel transition. Culthwaite is an N gauge layout based on the Settle and Carlisle line. Kinleith is a P4 branch line serving a paper mill near Edinburgh. Halifax King Cross is an imagined version of Halifax High Level station.
Scales run from 2mm finescale to O gauge, so allow time to look closely at the smaller layouts. Ivybridge, in 2mm finescale, shows a small station and a large viaduct on the Great Western’s South Devon main line in the late 1930s.
Where to Stay: Clayton Hotel Leeds, Leeds. About a mile from Moor Road in Hunslet, for anyone combining the show with the Middleton Railway.
Worth Knowing: Culthwaite is also on the York Model Railway Show’s 2027 layout list.
A Registered Charity Behind the Barrier
The Leeds Model Railway Society is a registered charity (number 1178071), and its pages are marked as established in 1947. Visitors and prospective members can request details through the society’s contact page.
The society also publishes a diary, a photo gallery, and a page on its club projects, all linked from its home page. If the show makes you want to build something, the membership email is the route in.
Where to Stay: The Queens Hotel, Leeds. With 232 rooms, it’s one of the larger city centre options.
Worth Knowing: The society’s Facebook group is linked from its home page for questions before the weekend.
Practical Tips
- Use the postcode LS17 8GS for the Grammar School at Leeds; the society’s home page shows a different postcode, so check before you set the satnav.
- Allow two to three hours; the show closes at 17:00 on Saturday and 16:30 on Sunday.
- Take the free programme at the door and mark the layouts you want to see first.
- Check your phone clock on Sunday; the clocks go back at 02:00 on 25 October.
- Park on site; the society promotes free parking.
- Bring children; up to three are free with each paying adult.
Responsible Visiting
Volunteers built the layouts, and many are fragile. Keep hands off the baseboards and barriers, ask before photographing a builder at work, and keep children close to the front rail rather than under it.
Reader Q&A
How much does the Leeds model railway exhibition cost?
Adults pay £10, and the programme is free. Up to three children enter free with every paying adult.
When is the Leeds model railway exhibition?
Saturday 24 October, 10:00 to 17:00, and Sunday 25 October, 10:00 to 16:30, 2026.
Where is it held?
At The Grammar School at Leeds, Alwoodley Gates, Harrogate Road, Leeds LS17 8GS.
Is there free parking?
Yes. The society promotes free car parking at the venue.
How many layouts are there?
The programme lists 22 layouts, from 2mm finescale up to O gauge.
Where to Stay
Weetwood Hall Hotel, Leeds. A four-star hotel built around a Jacobean manor house, with parts dating back to 1540, according to the hotel.
The Queens Hotel, Leeds. A Grade II listed Art Deco hotel that opened in 1937, with 232 rooms, beside Leeds station.
Clayton Hotel Leeds, Leeds. A city centre hotel, with the station a five-minute walk away.
From a room above a shop on Wade Lane in 1947 to a school hall on the A61, the show has followed its society across the city, and this weekend it stops at Alwoodley Gates.
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