Breaking News: Gaugemaster On The Telly!

We’re thrilled to be able to tell you that Gaugemaster were featured on the ITV2 show “Shopping with Keith Lemon” which premiered on Wednesday 23 August 2023 and is now available on demand via ITVX.

‘Shopping with Keith Lemon’ is a different take on the chat show format, and one that allows the celebrity guests to relax and talk at ease with Keith, while shopping for things they have an interest in. Episode 6 of Series 4 featured social media superstar Francis Bourgeois. Francis made his name on TikTok and other social media channels as a passionate railway enthusiast, often seen tracking down his favourite locomotives in action and awaiting the roar as they thundered through stations. His warm-hearted, feel-good outlook (and unique headcam view) sent him viral with many people with no interest in trains becoming invested in his adventures.

So where better for Francis to shop than one of Europe’s largest model railway shops?

Click the link above to watch a clip from Keith’s Instagram from the day of recording!

Filming took place on a glorious July afternoon and a few of our regular customers were surprised to see a whole film crew on site when visiting us, with one wondering if ‘there is a special train coming through’ before Francis and Keith made a surprise appearance!

Both Francis and Keith were fascinated by the huge range of items we carry, with Keith commentating about just how big our shop is. On arrival he exclaimed that “I thought we were going to some little shop, but this is like a supermarket” and we of course have to agree. We did point out that we have a large warehouse above our shop too and almost anything you could want for a model railway passes through our doors.

As they shopped, Francis spotted a number of models of the trains that his followers can see in his own videos. One, that he later purchased and can be seen being opened in the video above, was a Heljan Class 50; HN4034 Class 50 008 'Thunderer' Hanson & Hall. Francis had recorded the real version of this locomotive not long before shooting at Gaugemaster and is his first step into the larger O Scale compared to the more familiar OO Scale.

Another favourite of Francis’ was the East Midlands HST from Hornby. This set is sold as two power cars and there are a choice of matching coaches to accompany it. As the pair walked around with 15+ members of crew in tow, they spoke about some of Francis’s earlier experiences. He opened up about his younger days when he sold his first model railway collection. “With [that] money I bought clothes as well, and I bought a gym membership, I lost my identity trying to fit in with that” – a feeling that many of us have gone through, friends not seeing this as the coolest hobby, but we all come back! Thankfully like many of us Francis did and during his time at university turned his spare time to trainspotting and this then led him back to railway modelling.

Francis is so passionate about trains and railways in general, and it was a pleasure to see him impart his wealth of knowledge onto Keith. During the interview, Francis talked about the fact his videos started out as a secret project but soon learned that they were being watched by trainspotters and non-trainspotters alike, allowing others that were going through their school years to not hide their passion and, in fact, embrace it. He said “The thing that I feel very happy for is that there are some people who are going through school as a railway enthusiast and because of my videos they feel more accepted and like that they can share their passion”. This is a sentiment that we here at Gaugemaster share and we are always looking at ways to help younger modellers get the most out of their hobby.