A Hornby starter set with a small blue tank engine and three blue carriages was the first set our collector (then aged 7) received. As a child, watching ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ on TV inspired his love of trains, along with multiple family trips to heritage railways. Since then, Charlie has been adding to his collection of steam engines, with a couple of diesel locomotives, and he dreams of building a recreation of Tiverton or Dulverton station on the old Exe Valley line.

Great Western Railway models feature heavily in the collection and Charlie, who is Visitor Services Supervisor at RAMM, has built a model railway evocative of a small GWR branch line for the ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ exhibition (on display in gallery 20 and 21 until 29 September 2024).