LOCAL residents might recognise parts of their town in miniature as a model railway exhibition rolls into Ayrshire this month.

Kilmarnock and District Model Railway Club is holding its 34th Annual Exhibition at Irvine’s Volunteer Rooms this Saturday and Sunday.

The club will be exhibiting layouts of Highfield Junction and Netherton, as well as a special ‘work in progress’ exhibit.

Speaking about the Netherton layout, exhibition manager Bill Fitzpatrick said: “We have had two excellent pieces of luck with this layout. A former member, the late Dick Brown, built a scale model of the local station, goods shed and signal box for the museum at Kilmaurs and they were donated to the club when the museum closed.

“A few months ago boxes of 00 buildings built by the late Alexander Campbell of Saltcoats were donated by his grandson, Ross. A number of these buildings can be easily recognised by people with a knowledge of Irvine and the surrounding area.”

Douglas Blades, from Ardrossan, will have his large selection of books and videos on transport themes.The club will also be exhibiting a ‘work in progress’ layout. Mr Fitzpatrick said: “This is a first attempt at designing and building a layout by Graham Maxwell, a newcomer to the hobby. Exhibition standard layouts can put prospective modellers off and this is an attempt to show what can be done in a reasonable time by a beginner, with the help of some of his friends.”

The Scottish Industrial Railway Centre will have a sales stand at the exhibition to raise funds to keep the trains running at the Industrial Railway Museumnear Dalmellington.

The event is Saturday, January 30 from 10am-5pm Saturday and Sunday, January 31 from noon-4pm Sunday. Entry for adults is £4, £3 for concessions, and £12 for a family of four. A buffet supplying soup, hot and cold filled rolls, home baking, tea, coffee and soft drinks will be available. There is full disabled access to the event.