Welcome to our Model Trams and Tramways website which describes our tramway modelling, and that of other modellers in the North East of England, since the mid 1990's. We have always used trams powered from the overhead and automatic tram stops to build our model tramways for exhibition in and around the North of England.

If you wish to see us, or our model tramways, please consult the "Where to see Us" page for details of our future exhibition appearances.

After being asked many times, at railway exhibitions, how the Automatic Tram Stops on our model tramways work, I prepared these pages outlining the basics behind a very simple automatic control system which has now been published in a number of magazines. This enables a tram, powered from the overhead wire, to stop for a short time and then move off as the next tram approaches without the operator having any involvement. Click on the diagram or follow the menus for full description and more diagrams.

These pages describe, in words and pictures, how to motorise Corgi 4-wheel Trams, Balloons and Railcoaches. We run a number of motorised Corgi 4-wheel trams on our two Sunderland Tramways. After motorising they were stripped and repainted into the various liveries used by the Corporation and District Tramways. Click on the picture or follow the menus for full descriptions and photographs.

Sunderland Tramways, as exhibited, consists of 4 mm / ft models of both Sunderland Corporation (above) and Sunderland District Tramways (below) running motorised Corgi 1/64 th trams on 16.5 mm gauge track. Both systems terminated, for many years, at Grangetown on the southern edge of the town. When exhibited together they are joined by a short scenic board modelled on Ocean Road, which was between the termini and ran east from Stockton Road towards the sea.

Both Sunderland Corporation and Sunderland District Tramways can be and have been exhibited on their own and have been described in "Tramfare" (the bi-monthly Tramway & Light Railway Society magazine) and in "Railway Modeller" and seen at many of the model railway exhibitions held in the North East of England since 2002. Click on the pictures or follow the menus for full descriptions, track plans, exhibition diaries, photo and video galleries.

Sealane is built to 7 mm / foot scale, and uses 32 mm gauge track, by George Wilkinson, who is a fellow T.L.R.S North East member. It uses live overhead and automatic tram stops and has been described in "Tramfare" (the bi-monthly Tramway & Light Railway Society magazine) and in "Railway Modeller" and seen at many of the model railway exhibitions held in the North East of England since 2004. Click on the picture or follow the menus for a full description, track plan, exhibition diary, photo and video galleries.

Foxwood Park is built to 4 mm / foot scale and uses 16.5 mm track and, like all those above, has live overhead and automatic tram stops but runs two trams in each direction. The narrow gauge railway uses 009 track and is also built with automatic control. Foxwood Park will be described in "Tramfare" (the bi-monthly Tramway & Light Railway Society magazine), and "Railway Modeller" in 2010, and will be seen at many of the model railway exhibitions held in the North East of England. Click on the picture or follow the menus for a full description, track plan, exhibition diary, photo and video galleries and a construction blog with more photographs.

The large scale model Sunderland trams which ran for many years in the City of Sunderland's Roker Park were built by Gordon Douglas who was a Tramway and Light Railway Society member until his death in 2003. These trams ran from the live overhead and were built in 1/16 th scale over a period of almost 40 years. Click on the picture or follow the menus for more details and a photo gallery showing many of his models.

Our thanks for their invaluable assistance during the research, design, construction and exhibition of our model tramways must go, in alphabetical order, to Dave Allinson, the late Bill Davison, Malcolm Fraser, Alan Kirkman, Mark Palmer, George Wilkinson and anyone else who has helped us in any way.