Carefully created miniature worlds of railways and trains is exactly what you'll find at the Tauranga Model Train Show this month.

Held on Saturday January 21-22 at Tauranga Boys' College, the show will be a great time for families, kids and anyone interested in trains to check out what model railway is all about.

'Kids get great enjoyment out of it because they can go operate a train, drive it and get a certificate,” says club president Michael Oldfield.

In the thick of the school holidays, Michael says the show is a great opportunity to give kids a break from phones and videogames.

'That's what it's about really. It's just to show you can enjoy yourself without sitting on a chair all day pressing buttons.”

The show will boast an impressive 26 railway layouts, including eight commercial railway setups.

'Around the world there's all sorts of railways,” says Michael, who has a British railway layout at his home.

'Every country runs trains differently and we try to run our trains as if it was a real railway because that's the purpose model railway– at the end of the day once you've got the railway done, you put it in a timetable and take goods from one place to another.”

The recreated railway models can be so accurate that people may even recognise the miniature houses in the surrounding landscapes.

'The Katikati station we had to get photos and plans and then transform it into a miniature world so it's as near to what it was.”

Sharing as special moment from a previous show, Michael says: 'This man was watching the Katikati station for a long time and I said: ‘Do you like this set up?' – he said: ‘I was born in that house' – he couldn't get over it!”

Funds raised from the show will support the clubs community work that they do for people with dementia. 'We go to retirement villages, care homes and dementia units because while those people may be lost in moments of time now, as soon as they see the model railways it takes them back to a time when they remember things and they can sit and talk about it.”

The show runs from Saturday, January 21 – 22 and opens from 10am-4:30pm at Tauranga Boys' College, Gymnasium. Entrance fee: Adults $7 and Children: $3.