Outside the entrance to the exhibition, miniature train rides were being offered by the City of Oxford Model Engineers.

Inside, the exhibition was spread across three buildings. There were more than 40 layouts on display, organised by the Abingdon and District Model Railway Club.

For some enthusiasts the fascination begins early in life and becomes a lifelong pursuit. Even for those of us who are not enthusiasts there was plenty of interest at the show.

There were also dozens of trade and other stalls. Pauline Hazelwood writes children’s books based on stories told to her by railway enthusiasts. She also has a model railway layout featuring Alice the Little Welsh Engine, from one of her books.

Some of the layouts have more going on than trains travelling. Under the arches of Blackfriars Bridge, for example, I wondered what story lay behind the man distracting the policeman.

One of the largest layouts in the Sports Hall was Dorehill St Stevens. There was a wide variety of railway trains and scenery, including a small drama between a VW Beetle and a tree, with an ambulance taking away an injured person.

Of local interest was a model of the Wantage Tramway as it was in the 1920s. The two-mile tramway closed to passengers in 1925.

The Live Steam Roadshow came to the Abingdon Model Railway Show for the first time in 2025 and has already booked to return in 2027. Their layout has been very popular because the trains are powered by real steam and visitors are welcome to have a go at driving a locomotive.

The Bottom of the Barrel model is presented inside a beer barrel and shows the brewing process at the Trent Brewery, complete with almospheric lighting.

The layout showing the cup for Best in Show was The Wolfstatt Alpine Railway, which featured some impressively long trains. As with all good layouts, the longer you looked the more there was to discover.