Inside a hidden "oasis" lies an historic attraction some "may not realise" exists in the city. Calderstones Park in South Liverpool - and the Mansion House nestled inside the site - But tucked away in the park you will also find another attraction which has been running and serving the community for generations. Merseyside Live Steam and Model Engineers began 80 years ago and runs the site on railway But the group - and the space it has transformed - is so much more than that.
As part of , we spoke to chair Ian Coules, 61, about the history of the group and how they've transformed the space into an "oasis." Ian, who lives in , told the ECHO: "Originally, the club started off as Mersey Steamers which was set up with the view to help to train people coming back from the Second World War to get them back into in engineering. "It was set up at They started up in different places around the city where they could have workshop space and then in 1952 they were given a site in Calderstones to run a railway and basically have been here since.
"They started in one site which was temporary until a better site was found for them, then they moved to the Harthill site. Originally in the constitution, as it was during the Second World War and post when it was finishing, it was actually written in that women weren't allowed in the club, only men, but that got removed. "As time went on, women took on more engineering jobs and then they wanted to make it more to encourage men back into enginee.
