Ref. 28383-20THE smallest railway in Swindon has a big problem it must divert a planned extension to its line because of a badger sett.

When North Wilts Model Engineering Society decided it wanted to add another circuit through woodland at Coate Water, it discovered that the badgers had got to part of the planned route first, and set up home there.

Strict conservation laws relating to badgers mean that the sett cannot be disturbed in any way, so the plans will have to change.

Society membership secretary Dave Jenner said: "What we are hoping to do is extend the track at the moment we have two circuits and we would like to put in a third."

The society hopes this third circuit will include features such as a tunnel and a viaduct, as well as passing through woodland near the existing circuits.

However, when members of the society recently looked at potential routes, they discovered that their favoured one was blocked by a badger sett which is thought to have been established only in the last few years.

Mr Jenner's organisation rents its site from Swindon Council, owner of the country park, and operates on a non-profitmaking basis.

He said that the expansion would in any case cost in the region of £15,000, so the society would not be able to start the project immediately.

He said an alternative route would be found, and added: "One of the difficulties is that with railways, you cannot have right angled turns there have to be curves. But we will find a way."

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust spokeswoman Sharon Charity said: "Badgers are creatures of habit, which is why it is so important that they are not disturbed."

The society has a steam locomotive called Pansy and two battery-operated trains.

The 50 members of the North Wilts Model Engineering Society are celebrating their most successful year for passenger numbers since the society was established in the mid-1960s. More than 12,000 people have ridden aboard its steam and electric trains on its two circuits at Coate Water since April.

This is more than in the whole of the 12 months before April.

The society meets every Sunday, weather permitting, between 2pm and 5pm, when the public can ride on the miniature trains.

All are welcome to attend meetings, and the model railway is signposted from the main car park of the water park.

Anybody wishing to join the society or find out more about its work is invited to call Mr Jenner on 01793 771443.

bhudson@newswilts.co.uk

Protected by law

The safety of badgers is enshrined in their own Act of Parliament, the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act.

It provides for a maximum fine of £5000 and six months in prison for interfering with a badger sett.

Although the sett near the model railway seems to have appeared fairly recently, there are some in Wiltshire which have been in use by communities of badgers for at least a century.

There is also a still-active sett in Derbyshire whose presence is chronicled in the Domesday Book, which was complied shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Setts are intricate tunnel systems, and some have up to 40 entrances and individual tunnels stretching for 30 metres or more. A group of up to 15 badgers can live in a sett at one time.

Badgers are the UK's largest carnivorous land animal.

They are strongly territorial, using the same route to find food over generations.