A picture of Truro Cathedral features on a new Hornby model train.

The train is a model of a real single-coach-class 153 train, which was seen on railways throughout Cornwall between 2001 and 2006, run by Wales and West and Wessex Trains.

The model is of the livery produced in association with the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, which promotes the Truro-Falmouth Maritime Line and other rural railways in the two counties across the country and oversees, under the slogan “great scenic railways of Devon and Cornwall.”

The original initiative was the brainchild of Jeremy Whitaker, now director of marketing and student recruitment at University College Falmouth but then commercial director at Wales and West.

Jeremy said he was “delighted” to see the project immortalised by Hornby.

Jeremy worked with Richard Burningham, manager of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Richard said: “I was very proud of the real trains when they ran and am delighted to see this new Hornby model. There can’t be many people who can say that their office telephone number can be found on the side of a model train.”

The class 153 trains still run on the Maritime Line and other local railways, operated by First Great Western. They were refurbished with a new livery in 2007.

Julian Crow, First Great Western’s general manager for the West of England, said: “The Cornish branch lines are going from strength to strength and now have more train services and passengers than ever before. It will be great to see this model advertising them in shops and on thousands of model railways across the country.”