The Southland Society of Model Engineers is holding its 35th annual fundraiser; the ‘Great Little Train Show’ this Labour weekend at Surrey Park in Invercargill. 

And this year entry is free for anyone who wants to come along.

Southland Society of Model Engineers president Greg Fordyce said the society just wanted to give something back to the community in a year that has been “pretty tough” on everyone.

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"Everyone’s had a hard year. [The show] is about sharing our hobby with the community,” he said.

“Entry is free to our club grounds with train rides only $2.”

Mr Fordyce said the great little train show had been running every year since 1985 and is the second largest model show in the South Island.

“It’s something the whole family enjoys,” he said.

“We find a lot of adults like to ride the trains and reminisce… we get a lot a lot of parents coming that were brought along as kids.”

Although reduced in size this year due to uncertainty around COVID-19 impacting events, the event will still have an exciting display of model trains, boats, and cars.

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“The two large HO/OO and N scale club layouts will be operating in the train shed while several small layouts of varying scales will be on display inside our clubrooms,” he said.

“[The public] can view the model plan and boats on the pond, and we’ve got ⅓ scale traction engines on display and the radio control cars.”

Local retailers '0-4-0 Trains & Models' and 'Laird Motorsport & Models' will be onsite as well.

“We enjoy sharing our hobbies with our community too much to let Covid-19 beat us, so come along and enjoy the weekend with us,” Mr Fordyce said.