Model railway bringing community together

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.

"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."

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