Volunteers give their time to make sure life goes on in miniature town
IT HAS captured life in miniature for more than 70 years.
But just because it is closed for winter does not mean life grinds to a halt at the model village in Wimborne.
The Dorset attraction is as busy as ever behind the scenes, with volunteers making sure it will be spick and span when it comes to opening to the public again in March.
A spokesman said work on the scale- model village was carried out by people who give up their free time.
He said: “Wimborne Model Town is a 1/ 10th scale of the centre of Wimborne as it was in the 1950s, which opened in 1951.
“The charity attraction, mainly staffed by volunteers, sits on a two- thirds of an acre site, with mature gardens and complementary facilities.
“With increasing details added over the years, you can get really close up and even touch the buildings.
“Peer into the butchers, the ironmongers, the bakery and the fishmongers, not forgetting the stunning interior of the Minster church. Built by our own team of crack railway volunteers, the current model town railway layout continues to grow, with new features and displays.”
There is now a computercontrolled lighting system with daytime, dusk, night time and dawn over a 10- minute period.
The railway layout features stock from GWR, Southern, Sodor and more modern British Rail times.
Complementing this is a display of historic railway posters and local railway history,
The gardens, set out in the late- 1980s, which surround the model town, have over the years given much pleasure to visitors.
Since 2018 the gardens have received accredited listing by the National Garden Scheme.
You can get really close up and even touch the buildings. Spokesman for the Wimborne Model Town attraction in Dorset.