A MAN who has been building model trains for more than 50 years has won an award at a national exhibition.

John Heslop, 71, from the Hambleton area, won a gold medal and the JN Maskelyne Memorial Trophy at the Model Engineering Exhibition at Sandown Park in Surrey.

His winning model, a working London Midland Scottish Railway Royal Scot class locomotive, took him ten years to build. "It is just like a full size one really," he said. "It is a working steam locomotive with a coal fire."

The six feet long model was built from scratch by Mr Heslop, who has won similar awards in the past for other models.

The Model Engineering Exhibition, which took place from December 29 to 31, attracts entrants from all over the country.