The Great Little Train Show attracted multigenerational train and model enthusiasts to the annual two-day event.
Nearly 4000 train fans converged on the Southland Society of Model Engineers (SSME) grounds to ride the outside trains and explore the model train, boat and plane layouts inside the Southland Badminton Hall.
Engineers president Greg Fordyce said despite the bad weather the community still came out in their droves to support the event.
"It’s been really awesome seeing the [numbers] of hobbyists, modellers and third generations of families coming through . . . which started with their grandparents," Mr Fordyce said.
The show reached its 40-year milestone this year. Invercargill grandfather Owen Davies had been coming to the event for most of the last four decades and was a longtime engineers club member.
Regularly displaying his O Gauge Nostalgia layout at the event brought him much joy.
The 92-year-old had been collecting train sets since 1938 and was proud to have his first train set on display among his extensive collection.
He believed that his hobby had become a sickness that he had infected his grandchildren with.
"My love of trains has probably become a disease but at least it’s a healthy one . . . and it’s something that I am able to enjoy and pass on to my grandchildren," Mr Davies said.
He was glad that he could keep his train collection in the family, so his grandchildren could get as much fun from playing with trains as he had.
A "new generation of fans" to the show came from Southlanders who avoided the "weather bomb" and remained in Invercargill during the long weekend.
The annual exhibition also drew in boat fans, to test their little remote-controlled boats in the pond in the middle of the outside model train track.
More than 30 displays and traders were on site and shared their models and hobbies with others.
