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About Us
Founded in 1898, the Society has a long and distinguished history, with members across the country and around the world.
Established in 1898, the Society has a long and distinguished history. Our members are spread throughout the country, and indeed throughout the world, though our headquarters building, Marshall House, is in South London.
Members enjoy many benefits, including receiving, and contributing to, The Journal; talking to and sharing knowledge with like-minded people on Zoom meetings and within the various specialist WhatsApp groups; access to training; access to comprehensively equipped workshops; and much more.
General meetings
General meetings are held at Marshall House, usually on the first Saturday of the month, covering a wide variety of topics of interest to model engineers and those of like mind. Meetings for those with special interests, such as the Digital Group and the Engine Builders’ Group, are also held. Marshall House has its own fully-equipped lecture room, with amplified sound and a video projector linked to a PC and cameras. Audio-visual links enable distant members to share meetings online and contribute to discussion.
Recent talks have included:
- The Boulby Mine & Grinkle Railway
- Harry Ferguson: Life After Tractors
- The “Jubilee Models” of Locomotion
- Adopting TOPS: Implementing British Rail’s Nationwide Computer System for Freight
Visits
Visits are organised to places of interest, usually twice a year. Past visits have included the Thames Barrier, the Thames tunnel constructed by the Brunels, the motorsport and aviation museums at Brooklands and Farnborough, the Morgan Motor Company, and the National Theatre to see the engineering behind changing stage sets.
The Journal
The Society’s ‘house’ magazine, The Journal, carries news of the Society alongside interesting articles written by members. There are six editions a year, and for many members The Journal is the key reason for belonging.
Training
We have run training courses for more than ten years. The current range covers pretty much everyone, from the novice needing advice on setting up a workshop and ideas for a first project, through to the milling machine and grinding your own lathe tools. See our training →
Library & workshops
Marshall House has extensive library and workshop facilities available to all members. The workshops, housed in the basement, are comprehensive: a wide range of tooling and measuring equipment is available for members’ use. Members are encouraged to supply their own small cutting tools.
Equipment includes small and large-capacity vertical milling machines; surface, tool and cutter grinders; belt sanding machines; lathes with capacities up to 20in swing; power saws and drilling machines. CNC milling and routing facilities with access to CAD/CAM software are being added, and an electronics workshop is available to all members on an upper floor. A recent addition is a 3D-printing facility using a Bambu printer. More about the workshops →
SMEE maintains stands at the major model engineering exhibitions to meet existing members and recruit new ones. Above all else, this is a Society for anyone with an interest in model and experimental engineering, whatever their level of expertise.