News item on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) south west(spotlight)  local news Friday 25 October 2024.

A group of rail enthusiasts have opened a visitor centre in a Devon town dedicated to memories of a famous local train line.

For the Love of a Railway started as an idea to temporarily fill an empty restaurant window with a live model of the famous old Axminster to Lyme Regis Railway line.

The centre in Axminster now has space for community events as well as the permanent model.

Barrie Hedges, one of the volunteers, said: "We found that a model railway is a great way of unifying people of all ages.
A model version of Axminster train station with the town in the background.
Image caption,

The original model used to be in the window of a restaurant in the town.

"We have a little boy of three who is one of our devoted followers, all the way through to three of our volunteers who are in their eighties."

For the people involved in the project, it is as much about socialising as it is about the models.

Master model maker Geoff Hicks said "most of us didn't know each other before this, and now we are firm friends".

The volunteers have skills in crafts, engineering, electronics, woodworking, design and promotion.

One of the men, Terry Guppy, was once a fireman on the Lyme Billy train which ran on the line.

Mr Guppy said it's a great team: "If you tell them they've done something different from how I remember it, they don't even hesitate, they change it."

Thanks for that - I always find it useful to go back to read the full story, and it's practice to quote a link where one's available to give credit to the original author.  That allows us short quoted in critical review without copyright issues.

That picture is within the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article link:



Posted simply for further clarity here.  CfN.