Southport Model Railway Village is a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

located in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, England. It is a

model village A model village is a mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages ...

with a focus on trains and railways.Southport Model Railway Village
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History

In 1995, Southport residents Ray and Jean Jones were granted permission by Sefton MBC to design and build a model village at Kings Gardens, Southport. Together with their team of craftsmen they transformed an area within the seafront into a miniature landscape.About Southport Model Railway Village
/ref> This became the first model railway village in the United Kingdom, due to the focus of the attraction on the miniature railway. When it opened to the public in 1996 it was the largest outdoor display of G gauge railway in the United Kingdom. The Jones family still run Southport Model Railway Village today.

Railway

Movement is generated in the model railway village by one of the largest 45 mm garden railway systems in the United Kingdom. It has five LGB trains continuously running on 500 metres of track.2 August 2012
Visit Southport’s Model Railway Village during the summer holidays
''Southport Visiter''

Miniature landscape

The site is approximately 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) and the miniature landscape is set at 1:18 scale. There are over 200 models along with 500 m of model train track in the village. The attraction features architectural styles from

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

and

West Lancashire West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town is Skelmersdale. The district borders Fylde to the north, over the Ribble Estuary; South Ribbl ...

. Buildings are constructed with marine plywood and resin. Each building is designed and constructed on site by an in-house manufacturing base, which supplies miniature resin items such as doors, windows roofing sections and miniature people. Spanning the site is a waterway which connects two natural ponds. Notable features include:

In popular culture

Television appearances include: *

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

One Foot in the Past (aired 1996) * Various regional television news items *

Granada Tonight ''ITV News Granada Reports'' is a British television regional news service, produced by ITV Granada and serving the North West of England. Overview ''Granada Reports'' is produced and broadcast from studios in the Orange Tower at MediaCityUK i ...

* To Buy or Not to Buy (Series 8 Episode 12) To Buy or Not to Buy (in Southport) - Series 8, Episode 12 of 38.
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References

{{reflist Tourist attractions in Southport Miniature villages in England Southport Miniature railways in the United Kingdom Model railway shows and exhibitions Tourist attractions in Merseyside