Well known Aylesbury engineer on track to build miniature village complete with railway in his garage

A motor engineer from Aylesbury is building his very own miniature village with a model railway set he bought from South Bucks Hospice.

Clive Dell, who owns Dell Motor Services in Aylesbury, won the train set in an auction held by the hospice’s reuse shop at Aston Clinton.

He paid a substantial undisclosed fee for the set which includes around 15 trains, 60 carriages and coaches, houses, pubs and a colliery.

The money will go to helping to care for patients with life-limiting conditions.

The train set was donated to the shop by a man who Mr Dell believes carefully carried it into the shop in three large loads. He says he estimates it dates from the 1970s.

He said: “I have been buying model items for three or four years and am in the very early stages of drawing up plans to create the village – I am so glad I bought the train set from the hospice because a lot of it has been hand-made.”

The 59-year-old added: Whoever made it must have spent hours creating it.”

He plans for his village to have a church, wedding cars, a graveyard, gravestones, a vicar at a funeral as well as trains and a coal mine.

There will also be outbuildings, woodlands and mountains in the mini village.

Clive was delighted that his hobby has helped South Bucks Hospice.

He said: “I am quite a charitable person and think it was a really nice idea to buy something which goes back into helping people who are not as fortunate as others.”

Jackie Ward, Chief Executive Officer for South Bucks Hospice based at Kingswood Park in High Wycombe, said: “It’s wonderful that so much money can be made, and so much enjoyment can be had, through our charity re-use shops. I would urge other members of the public to both donate and buy unwanted items.”

She added: “Who knows, your discarded items could turn out to be somebody else’s priceless gem – and could raise a lot of money to help our patients.”