Model train club show - it's more than just a hobby

The Rotorua Model Train Club's Easter Train Show is on all Easter weekend. Photo/File

If you're looking for the perfect outing on a wet weekend look no further than the Rotorua Model Train Club's Easter Train Show.

The annual show was a great opportunity for the club to show off its best model railway layouts to kids of all ages, said club member Craig Iddles.

He said layouts taking members hundreds of hours to create would be on display along with their locomotives and carriages.

These include an HO scale American layout, two OO scale British layouts and the very popular Hornby OO layout, "that most people in the early 60s when I was a kid would have given their eye teeth for".

"And of course we'll have the ever popular Thomas the Tank Engine on display."

Mr Iddles said some of the locomotives in the show would be about 60 years old.

"I used to get a bit worried about grown men playing with trains, but it's great for the kids and if you look at how much work that goes into layouts, from carpentry to a rudimentary knowledge of geology and, of course, trains, they really are an artwork.

"It's a hobby that I find quite enjoyable and quite relaxing - it's more than just playing with toys - and we hope everyone who comes along will enjoy it."

What: Rotorua Model Railway Club Easter Train Show
When: Saturday to Monday
Where: Arawa Park Racecourse
Cost: Adults $6, children $3, family (2 adults, 3 children, 12 years and under) $18.