A BEAMINSTER railway enthusiast has made his mark at a national show.

Last month model railway enthusiasts from across Britain and Europe gathered at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham for the National Model Railway Exhibition.

The exhibition is organised by the Warley Model Railway Club.

Well known Beaminster man and model railway enthusiast Douglas Beazer was invited to attend the show by the organisers to exhibit his display about ‘The Royal Train’.

Royal train travel started in 1842 when Queen Victoria travelled from Slough to Paddington and there has been a Royal Train ever since. It is used primarily by The Queen, Prince Philip, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall for official duties throughout the country and, in itself, is always a great attraction. 

The display which Douglas mounted has been shown at local events and was spotted by Paul Jones, the Warley Exhibition manager, when he came to the Bridport Model Railway Exhibition in July 2014. 

After his visit Paul invited Douglas to attend the national show in 2015 with the Berlin Military Train display as it was a subject which they had not exhibited before and is a very unique topic being part of our recent history. 

Last year Paul invited Douglas to attend this year’s show with his Royal Train display, including a model of the Queen’s train which again is a very rare subject covered in the model world. 

Douglas was accompanied to Birmingham for the weekend by John Edge, a member of the Bridport and District Model Railway Club, to assist with the display. 

The display was extremely well received, attracting a very large number of visitors of all ages wanting to know more about it, together with many people actually involved with different aspects of the Royal Train operation.

Douglas takes this and his other display, about the British Military Train to Berlin, to local events and now gives illustrated talks on both these subjects to many varied organisations in the area.

Douglas said: “The standard of exhibits was extremely high and how proud and privileged he was to be invited to exhibit at the national exhibition for a second time, alongside all the big names in the model railway world.”