The Constitution of the 16mm Association

As a UK limited company (registered in England and Wales), the constitution of the Association is set out in our Articles of Association – a formal document that has been lodged with Companies House.

The Articles of Association define the aim and objectives of the 16mm Association – our main purpose for existence. To quote from the Articles, our aim is

“the promotion of narrow gauge railway modelling in the scales of 14-16mm to the foot and to bring together members whose interests include the construction, display and operation in private, public, local, national and international contexts of narrow gauge railways and related models”.

There is no mention of the gauge of track or nature of prototype – our constitution recognises that we are a group of people with a common interest in modelling the Narrow Gauge, whilst allowing for the diverse ways in which we enjoy our hobby.

Our constitution also covers a pretty wide range of scales. For example, 16mm to the foot on 32mm (0-gauge) track covers 2-foot or 60cm gauge track, whilst 15mm to the foot on 45mm (gauge 1) track is spot-on for the 3-foot gauge and pretty close to 1 metre at a scale of 14mm to the foot.

The Articles of Association provide a formal framework to the way in which we operate as a company, covering membership, general meetings, voting, appointing the directors, meetings of directors, accounts and the sending of notices to members. The Articles have been revised on four occasions (1999, 2004, 2005 and 2016) since the Company was formed in 1995.

The Articles also allow the Directors to create Rules to help in the management of the Company. The current rules were adopted in 2016 and cover subjects including membership, local groups, boiler testing and an appeal tribunal.