Riverlane

Re the new Chester Model Centre

They now have a website -: http://chestermodelcentre.com

With opening times and details of the latest releases.

Some parts of the site are yet to be completed.

The latest news is that the Penketh closed on the 29th of March,

and at last they will be opening the first floor area in the Chester shop.

This is good news, as the floor area downstairs is small, and only allowed

them to show a small range of items.

I will post more information as soon as i have a chance to pay them a visit.

I paid another visit to the new Chester Model centre today ( Saturday 4th January 2014 ) at 2 pm and the shop was open with the staff busy filling the shelves.

At the moment only the ground floor area is open, with a small range of Model Railway items between the counters, and a small selection of plastic kits and die-cast items around the shop.

Hopefully they will have a bigger range to choose from when they have fully stocked the shop.

I will pay them another visit in a few weeks to give them a chance to fill the shelves.

The opening times for the shop in Warrington are -:

Monday 10am - 4:30pm Tuesday 10am - 4:30pm Wednesday 10am - 4:30pm Thursday 10am - 4:30pm Friday 10am - 4:30pm Saturday 10am - 4:30pm

We don't close for lunch.

I can only assume that the chester shop will be the same.

Life is so strange at times, I have been following your interesting railway hobby threads for ages Tony as well being an admirer of your excellent east coast layout. Last week I purchased December's British Railways Illustrated and was amazed from reading your excellent ' A Cestrian's Urchin Tales 1 that your a native of my home town Chester. Like you my spotting days started with the ex Cheshire Lines railway running out of Chester Northgate but from the other side of the triangle heading towards Dee Marsh.  My parents house was in Abbot's Park and the end of the garden was opposite the signal box at Chester West Jnc  and I could watch the coming and goings through the old Liverpool Rd station which closed in 1952 four years before I was born but I can remember steam working the line and seeing coal being delivered to Allan Morris's yard then being stock piled down a lane that ran alongside the embankment towards Parkgate Road.

I was also a regular visitor to the wonderful Mr Trickett in Garden Lane where my first trains where purchased for birthdays and Christmas etc. The Model Shop in Frodsham St was owned by a lady called Miss Neadom if I remember correctly and was at one time located next to Siddals Options on the Cross for a while. The shop in White Friars was an interesting little shop assess to which was along a long narrow corridor  and I can remember purchasing a green Traing DMU . The Arts and Crafts Studio was owned by the Hutchinson family and the youngest son Nick is an old friend of mine and am still in contact with to this day. It has be a difficult time for him as he stayed on as manger of the shop after selling the family business to the Model-zone group.

To keep my personal link to my old friends shop is also a strange twist as Penketh Paul is also a good friend and I wish him all the best in his new venture and hope that the local modellers will support this most welcome addition to the Chester shopping experience.

I look forward to part 2 of your article 'A Cestrain's Urchin Tales ' Tony

I was a regular buyer from the Arts & Crafts studio for many years after moving to Chester in 1993, and became a friend of Nick and the staff, it was very sad when the shop closed, another victim of hard times and too many of us buying from the internet !

I wish the new venture every success, it will be of more interest to me if they stock some larger scale items.

Allan

Re the new Chester model centre.

I paid a visit to the shop this morning (Saturday 4th January 2014 ) but was surprised 

to find it closed at 9.20.

There are no opening times on the door.

I hope they add some soon, it will be a shame if they loose a lot of new customers.

I will try again at a later time and will post my findings.