WHEN people build model railways they normally find space in the attic or the garage - but not for one Ross-on-Wye couple.

Nick and Janet Nelson, who live in the town’s Old Gaol, didn’t have the space as it is ‘compact’ but with careful planning, they created a layout above head height that goes through two bedrooms, a wardrobe, an airing cupboard and even has the turning circle high above the landing area.

The layout is so unique that it has been featured on six pages on this month’s Railway Modeller magazine.

The layout, named as Archenfield, the historical name for the area, features a railway station and buildings that emulate structures in Ross.

Nick explains that 25 years ago while he was installing water pipes through 18 inches of thick sandstone wall, he would make one hole a bit bigger to allow a model train to pass through from one bedroom to the next.

Nick added: “Whilst drilling this enlarged hole, the 22mm bit broke and I dropped the drill which fell straight through our daughter’s wardrobe and land in a pile of splinters on her bed.”

Nick, an engineer by trade, explained that prior to the Covid pandemic, their children had outgrown the fascination for the model railway, and the trains only ran on ‘special occasions’.

“But it was when we were told we were not to leave home at the outset of the lockdown that we thought it was an opportunity to carry out an upgrade and set about working on the scenery.

“I also discovered that technology in model railways had improved greatly. The quality of models was more realistic with buildings having more depth and the grass now stands up thanks to static.

“The control technology has also changed, and I can now operate everything from my phone. This makes it easier when the train is moving between rooms.

“The trains now have an authentic chuff, whistles and other effects. We have another station in the second bedroom Dancing Green, named after the village in the Forest of Dean, and it has a sign which states ‘change for Phocle Bottom’, another play on local place names.

The model railway is set in the early 1920s ‘somewhere in Herefordshire’. The church has similarities to the Ross’ parish church without the spire, “Because there wasn’t space to fit it in beneath the ceiling,” Nick quips, and added that the church now resembles St Ethelbert of Much Marcle.

“The pub is named the Duke of Edinburg as we completed it on the day Prince Phillip died.”

The model also depicts cider apples being hoisted in the Henry Easton’s factor, in honour of the local Weston cider making business.

Other Ross business from the past include the Market House, Colin Smith the greengrocer, Colewood Butchers and a haberdashery.

Other buildings include the Royal Castle Hotel, based on the Royal Hotel, and a hotel in honour of Nick’s engineering background the I K Brunel Hotel.

Oh, and the Archenfield Gazette has a number of similarities to the Ross Gazette.