HAS Herefordshire's only model railway museum reached the end of the line? Owner Eric Rawlins says he will stop running his trains at Ross-on-Wye - but hopes someone out there can keep them on track.

His museum at Rowberry House, Copse Cross Street, offers a history of Britain's railways in miniature. Around 300 models that he has made over the past 60 years sport the liveries of almost every rail company to have operated since the age of steam.

There is also a replica of Ross station in its Great Western heyday and models of a yacht and an aircraft built in the town.

Now nearly 80, Eric has signalled his intent to slow down. He wants an "apprentice" he can teach to take over the museum.

The alternative is putting the collection up for auction. That, he said, might mean it being broken up or worse still removed from public view.

Eric brought the collection to Ross from Croydon in 1985. He has been making his mini-trains since 1944.

The museum opened in 2000 and survives on donations.

Holidays in Herefordshire as a teenager sparked Eric's lifelong interest in railways. His uncle was a guard on the Ross-Monmouth line