Model rail shows is a smash hit – three years after being wrecked
RECORDS were broken when the Market Deeping Model Railway Club staged its first show at Stamford Welland Academy since the
2019 event was wrecked by four drunken teenagers.
The May 14/15 Stamford Model Railway Show attracted over 1100 visitors, more than doubling the previous best of 450.
Visitors queued at the doors before the 10am opening time on both days. The show boasted 44 layouts and other stalls spread over four halls.
As previously reported, the 2019 events generated international headlines for the wrong reasons when four 16-years-old boys shared a bottle of vodka on a night out before taking their GCSEs, broke into the gym at the same venue, and deliberately wrecked the models during a rampage, during which they also played football. Police were called when the academy’s alarm system was activated, and the four were arrested after being found hiding in toilets.
They were subsequently charged with causing damage costing £30,000. A court imposed 12-month referral orders, and their parents were also ordered to pay £500 in compensation.
After rock star Rod Stewart, himself a model railway builder, donated £10,000 to the club when he heard of the mindless vandalism, around £100,000 was donated by wellwishers from around the world.
Club chairman Peter Davies: “We are absolutely delighted by the public response to the event.
“In no small way it was down to sponsorship from Stamford’s main Ford dealer, TC Harrison.
“Hiring the academy is an expensive business, with all sorts of coasts to be met.”
One of the star exhibits at the show was the club’s OO gauge model of LNWR Euston station as it was on June 23, 1875.
Following the wrecking spree of 2019, a static display model of the station frontage was among the many donations offered. Club member David Ashworth undertook a vast amount of research which led to many more buildings being added. Part of it portrayed the state visit to London of the sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said, to ratify an anti-slavery treaty.
The police had begun clearing Euston’s Great Hall ahead of the arrival of the Sultan’s train from Birmingham.
Also on display was Woodcroft, the club’s EM model of an imaginary through station between Stamford and the East Coast Mail Line, depicting the GNR of the early 1920s. It was one of the layouts wrecked in 2019 and has been rebuilt by a dedicated team.
➜ For more details about Market Deeping Model Railway Club and to join as a member, visit the website mdmrc.org