MODEL railways were brought to life in a two-day exhibition at the weekend.

More than 300 people visited The Grand Model Railway Club’s annual show in The Grand Hotel, Bishop Auckland, on Sunday and yesterday.

For the first time since the exhibition started four years ago, the club was unable to use the hotel’s beer cellar for its displays, because of health and safety concerns.

But despite this, exhibition manager Mick Fishwick said: “Anybody who has been to the show knows that we don’t have lots of space, so I make sure that the model layouts we do have are of the highest quality.

“Lots of people said they thought the layouts were great.”

This year’s show featured seven layouts, two demonstrations as well as a display by the Weardale Railway Loco Group.

Many of the layouts featured railway scenes from the North-East, such as the former goods depot in Gilesgate, Durham City.