THE NATIONAL FESTIVAL OF RAILWAY MODELLING at the BIRMINGHAM NEC + 44871 & 37669 + 37706 Railtours!

Action from a brilliant and varied day with @southwalestrainspotting5090 on Saturday, with a visit to the National Festival of Railway Modelling at the Birmingham NEC, with the opportunity to catch a couple of railtours added into the mix.

We begin as day breaks at Severn Tunnel Junction where we see Ian Riley’s LMS Black Five 44871 steaming through with Railway Touring Companies Christmas Cheshireman excursion, with WCRC 47812 bringing up the rear.

As we continued up in the car to the NEC in less than favourable weather, we took the opportunity to stop at Haresfield to catch the second tour of interest in the region in the form of Pathfinder Railtours Chester Christmas Explorer with WCRC 37669 + 37706 operating between Oxford Parkway - Blackburn. This would be the penultimate Pathfinder railtour before the final bash with D1015 on 20th December which will mark the end of the company after over 50 years of business, so a significant working to capture!

With both rail tours int he bag we continued to the NEC. Enjoy coverage from Hall 5, capturing the atmosphere during a full day spent at this event, with premier manufacturers and trade brands in attendance, over 60 incredible model exhibition layouts in all shapes and sizes on display and an Aladdin’s cave of model railway merchandise on sale from a huge range of leading stockists, as well as other railwayana, interactive exhibits, ride on trains and more making this one awesome day and well worth the visit, and it should be noted even with 2 hours of footage in this video, there are bound to trade stalls and other displays not covered which is a testimony to the sheer scale of this event!

Following a full day of exploring the NEC, we headed back towards the West and took the opportunity to again catch both returning railtours through Severn Tunnel Junction, with 44871 making an unexpected stop, and creating an atmospheric departure, an engineering train passing though, and one of the Transport For Wales 150s, now becoming scarce in the region, before lastly the WCRC 37s head through running over 60 minutes late, but making a hell of a racket on departure bringing to a close a brilliant day of railway action in all shapes and sizes! | 22.10.2025

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