MORE than 250 visitors made their way to the Old Vicarage, Emneth, on Sunday for Wisbech Model Railway Club s open day with a difference. The club has been meeting there since starting up, by courtesy of owners Mark and Flo Thatcher, and members are now c

MORE than 250 visitors made their way to the Old Vicarage, Emneth, on Sunday for Wisbech Model Railway Club's open day with a difference. The club has been meeting there since starting up, by courtesy of owners Mark and Flo Thatcher, and members are now constructing their first model railway layout in 'OO gauge' which will eventually be to exhibition standard. The club, formed 16 months ago, displayed the layout, still under construction, and Mr Thatcher had set up his garden railway, operating it with 'live steam' and diesel. Ass well as the layout inside there was a layout built in 'N gauge' of Sutton Bridge as it was in the 1930s. This has been built over a period of years by two club members before the club started and has been featured in model railway magazines. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, this same layout will be at another exhibition. To go with the layouts, visitors were given the chance to look around the ground floor of the house, including the study where the late Rev Wilbert Awdry penned the last 13 of his 'Thomas The Tank Engine' books. Visitors were also able to see many of the models the owners of the house had built. In the dining room, the Wisbech and March Bramley Line staged its roadshow. There was also the chance for customers to sponsor a sleeper' at £2 a time and one March woman, an ardent Thomas The Tank Engine fan, booked her name down for sleeper number one as this is Thomas' number.