The club celebrated its 90th anniversary in September last year with the goal to innovate and build off its successful club rooms refurbishment project.
Members are now in advanced discussions with the Timaru District Council to lease the nearby municipal indoor rifle range building in Craigie Ave to expand the club’s services and introduce an indoor model railroad club.
Club president Trevor Kissell said they were looking for expressions of interest before committing to a deal.
"We’ve had a few people that are interested but it could cost up to $3000 a year to run, so we really need to get some solid numbers to gauge if there actually is that interest around town.
"We’re all interested until it becomes time to front up."
"We have an annual general meeting on May 18 to get the club approval as the council is more than happy to go ahead. We have the lease document and a two-year stay on the rates, so we just need to have that interest confirmed by then."
"When we are talking indoor railways, we’re talking HO and N-scale electric trains.
"The chance to build a club and a couple of permanent club layouts would be great.
"There are a couple of groups around here but you have to be invited to them and they’re limited because they are just round robin groups held at people’s houses.
"It would be so beneficial to have a club as an option, people will upskill their modelling and be able to learn from each other right from the baseboard to track work, electrical work and scenery work."
Mr Read said it would take 15-20 people to make the prospect of a club viable.
"We would hope we could rustle up that amount but hopefully there are also modellers out there that are just doing it on their own at home but might be keen to join a club.
"In the past there’s always been people asking if there are clubs in the area so hopefully they’ll come out and we can get started. We are open to all ages and all experience levels, technology is a big thing now so I’m sure the younger ones could even teach the older ones a few things."
The municipal building was still in pretty good nick, he said.
"Initially we won’t have to do much to the building, just a couple of good coats of paint.
"Long term, the rifle range part is still a dirt floor so the eventual plan would be to put a concrete floor down so we can utilise all of the building.
"For a start we just want to encourage and get more members in there to get some hobby skills going and work up from there."
Anyone wishing to express their interest in wanting to join the potential club can contact Mr Read on 021 166-7476 or Mr Kissell on 027 225-5546.
