Taunton Model Engineers are well on the way to fulfilling a 70-year dream after receiving a large grant for a multi-purpose building and a scaled railway track on a site at West Buckland.

The group was founded in 1946 and a permanent home has been its long-time objective – and last year the purchase of four-and-a- half acres of land was finalised and planning permission obtained to create a centre for the promotion of engineering, education and the enjoyment of locomotives.

Grants from Viridor Credits Environmental Company totalling £105,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund, to provide a building with power and water and two railway track layouts, have given the project an enormous boost.

Group chairman David Hartland said: “This is tremendous news. Members have worked hard to raise funds to buy the land, and then to clear it and start levelling and grading the site, and do the earthworks for the building – now we can see the future clearly and are keen to get on with developing the plans we have made.”

Volunteers from Taunton Model Engineers are carrying out all the work on site, building on the skills and experience of the membership. David said: “Our members are engineers and think as engineers, and being drawn from all walks of life, the necessary skills are all there somewhere, so we can save an enormous amount of money by providing all the labour for the project, and members are keen to be involved.”

The previously-bare site will include new tree-planting and a pond, which will increase the value of the land to wildlife by providing new habitats. It will also be a place to be enjoyed by the local community on many days through the year, even when trains are not running. West Buckland Parish Council and residents have welcomed the project as something of benefit to everyone.

Taunton Model Engineers is a registered charity and looks forward to working with local schools and other groups to prove that engineering can be of interest to all kinds of people, at any age. David said: “The country needs more engineers and it would be good to think that the professional engineers of the future might have their imagination fired here at West Buckland while still at school.”

The multi-purpose building is taking shape, cuttings and embankments for the small-gauge railway have been cut, other groundworks are well under way, and seven tonnes of steel rail have been unloaded ready for the tracks to be laid.