Rasen rail club on track for magazine fame

A Market Rasen club looks set for rail modelling stardom after being chosen to feature in a national magazine.

The town’s model railway club will be one of the feature layouts in the coming edition of Model Rail, which goes on sale next Thursday, March 10.

“We are absolutely chuffed to bits, excuse the pun, at being featured,” said club member Keith Franklin.

“I have always been around trains, both my grandfathers worked on the railway and I have always gone to railway shows and looked at what people have done, but I never thought I would help build one, show it and get it featured in a magazine.

“And for this to all happen within five years is amazing.”

The layout was photographed by the magazine in June, then in February a telephone interview took place with the club chairman Chris Middleton and secretary Brian Ward.

“We have no idea how much will be featured,” added Keith, who has been a member of the club since it began over six years ago.

“We have seen the pictures and they look fantastic.

“The magazine features cover between four and nine pages generally, so we will just have to wait and see.”

Laying out the line for the club

The layout

Using original track plans, the group has recreated the layout of the town’s station area from the 1960s – and pre-1940s with the addition of the roof.

Stopping at

The layout will be on display in St Thomas’s Church Room in Market Rasen market place on April 23 as they prepare for the Cleethorpes Model Railway Exhibition on May 7 and 8. It will also be at the Caistor rail event on October 8 and 9.

Further down the line

While the layout is complete, the group is now looking at the possibility of computerising it.