Ex-railwayman on track for success after opening Shrewsbury model shop
Model enthusiasts can now get their trains, planes and automobiles from a Shropshire shop opened by a former railwayman.
Salopian Models, in Castle Street, Shrewsbury, is open for business after ex-train dispatcher Toby Pedley moved from the town's market hall.
The shop is the only one in the town centre which specialises in model trains, Airfix planes and Scalextric, and Toby told how he turned his passion into his job.
"As a kid I used to like trains. I used to go to Severn Valley Railway as a youngster. Then I used to work on the railway."
Toby then worked as a security guard before taking his stall at the market.
"I'd been at the market hall for about four years," he said.
"I've just outgrown the market. My partner Sara pushed me to take the next step.
"The new shop is in a great location on a busy thoroughfare. I think in some ways Covid has helped in terms of landlords being a bit more receptive to bringing the rates down."
Toby opened his new shop on January 10, and said: "So far it's been really good. So many people have appeared. I put a Facebook post out on Monday with a couple of pictures, and so far it's been viewed 51,000 times.
"There have been 200-300 comments, mainly of people saying it's great to have a model shop in the town centre again."
Toby believes coronavirus lockdowns may have inspired hobbyists to get back into model making over the last couple of years.
"Quite a few people have been in saying that in lockdown they got their old Scalextric, Airfix models and train sets out of the loft and wanted bits to build onto them. I think people wanted something to do that they could fix or make or paint, rather than just watching TV or playing computer games."
