The IMLEC Archive
The idea for the IMLEC archive began in late 2021 when I was looking through previous IMLEC programmes and Model Engineer magazines to compare results, competitors and tracks after chatting to Rob Speare at IMLEC 2021. I thought "wouldn't this be easier if it was all in one place". After this initial thought, a quick look online also told me that there was nowhere that preserves the history of this iconic model engineering competition. I therefore set about to create an online resource for everything IMLEC related, one to provide an analysis of results and two to preserve the history of IMLEC.
My own association with IMLEC goes back to 1995, the year I was born. I attended the competition at Kinver at a mere 4 weeks old, and have been to every IMLEC since, except one. My family history goes back a lot further. My grandfather Fred Winsall attended IMLEC 1973, he enjoyed what he saw and promptly entered his Nigel Gresley the next year and won! Over the following 40+ years, both Fred and my father Glyn have entered or attended every IMLEC, leading to a large collection of programmes, memorabilia and IMLEC reports, you will find all of these here in the archive.
Another interest of mine since I was young has been Formula 1, I was always fascinated by the cars, the engineering, the driving skill and the statistics/records. You may wonder what this has to do with IMLEC, but replace the word "cars" with "steam locomotives" and you have IMLEC! I have now managed to collate every IMLEC result since 1969 into one spreadsheet, if you are interested in knowing either your results from every IMLEC you have entered or anyone else's please get in touch.
I hope that the IMLEC archive can be a place where anyone who has been to IMLEC or may be thinking about attending can explore the amazing history of the competition and enjoy finding out how a small idea to compare the efficiency of model steam locomotive turned into a annual competition with a rich history.
If you have any pieces of IMLEC memorabilia then please get in touch so we can add a photo to the IMLEC archive and continue to celebrate IMLEC.
August 2022 - George Winsall
