One of world's oldest model train clubs celebrates its 90th birthday

  • Central

One of the world's oldest model railway clubs is celebrating its 90th birthday.

The Birmingham Model Railway Club is the fifth oldest in the world. Despite being bombed during the Second World War, it's stood the test of time and it's still attracting train enthusiasts, which include celebrities such as record producer and TV judge, Pete Waterman.

The club has also recently been given funding because of its work with young people who have autism. It works with youngster to boost their confidence, knowledge and skills when it comes to operating the trains and restoring them.

Railway enthusiast, Pete Waterman, has bought models from the club Credit: PA

The first railway sets where made by Marklin in Germany in 1891 but they were made popular by a group of enthusiasts in England who, in 1904, began model building.

The first electric models where introduced just before the First World War. Rovex Plastics Ltd founded by Alexander Gregory Vanetzian developed an electric toy train for Christmas 1950.

Since then, they've become incredibly valuable and many now sell for thousands at auction.

Back in 2015, Pete Waterman put one of his collections up for auction with a £1 million price tag. But, at £10million (€15million), Miniatur Wunderland in Germany is by far the biggest and most expensive model railway in the world.

The Hamburg based layout has been constantly growing since 2001 and now has seven areas, including recreations of Hamburg, the Alps, America, Switzerland, Scandinavia and a fully operational airport with 930 trains and 14,450 wagons running over 13,000 metres of track.