For Mike Kelly, it was a chance sighting of Cromer station when he came on holiday to the county in 2004 that lead to one of his most ambitious projects - creating a model replica of the town's railway station.

Mr Kelly, 70, who hails from Leicester, had been spending his holiday at a caravan site in West Runton, near to Runton station, when he was advised to take a trip around north Norfolk using the train.

It was while travelling around that he first came upon Cromer station, which he said he was 'fascinated' by, especially with the way it works as a terminus station.

When deciding to exhibit at a model railway show which was to be held in Loughborough in 2009, Mr Kelly hit upon the idea of creating a model of Cromer station.

He made a return trip to Cromer in August 2008, to take pictures of the station, and he set about, with help from some friends, creating all the minute detail, which includes staff replenishing supplies at the Morrisons store in the background, and even a replica model of a 'glass house', built by Mr Kelly's friend John Cox, which overlooks the station and can be seen from the end of the platform. Mr Kelly even re-created a model Buddha figure, which he had seen sitting in the garden of that house.

The model also includes The Station House building, which now houses Buddies Bar.

In making sure he got every detail right Mr Kelly even measured the platform at Cromer so he knew how to scale it down properly for his model version, and included Cromer church in the background.

The model railway is an 00 gauge version, and overall took Mr Kelly six months to complete, but his dedication and eye for detail were rewarded as his model received the traders cup for the best layout at the Loughborough exhibition.

The Cromer model was his second attempt at creating a model railway, his first was a model version of North West Bridge Station in Leicester as it had been in the 1960s.

He said: 'Cromer was different as I had never done a model of the real thing before, it was much easier building it actually, because I was building things that were actually still there.

'Building the Morrisons model was a real labour of love though, because it was so big.'

As well as the Loughborough exhibition, he has also displayed the Cromer model at exhibitions in Grantham, Derby and Crewe, and this year has more lined up in Shoeburyness and Northampton.