Hundreds make tracks to Shrewsbury Model Railway Group's new home

Organisers of the event on Saturday, said they had collected four times as much money as expected.

The open day was held after the group moved to the heart of the county town, in Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust's Abbey Station building at Abbey Foregate.

David Morris, of the trust, said: "We were rammed – people were there before we were even open.

"The bulk of people were all there within an hour-and-a half. Certainly by early afternoon we'd had 600 or 700 visitors. It is way more than we expected."

The group raised hundreds of pounds, both through contributions from visitors and through the sale of books.

A bonanza of railway magazines and books were sold off to free up space.

The success of this first open day means another will be held in the near future.

"We were thinking it would be several months, but we'll review that due to the popularity of the day." Mr Morris said. "I think the view will be we will hold it as quick as we can organise it.

"We thought the weather wasn't brilliant, but we warmed up the room and the people who came tended not to just pop in and leave. Many were there for 30 or 45 minutes. At one time it was so busy people couldn't move."

Mr Morris said not only had they collected more money than expected, but that the type of people attending had surprised organisers as well.

"It was interesting how many youngsters came along," he said. "There were a lot of grandparents bringing grandchildren, but in terms of customer profile it was far younger than we expected."