With the initial wave of lockdowns in early 2020, many people turned to baking and feeding the sourdough starter, while others finally found the time to do all of the stuff they’d never had time for before. For Simon George, it only meant more time to bring his 8-year project closer to completion.
Simon George is not famous or, better said, he wasn’t famous before all this. Today, he is officially known as the man who built Britain’s biggest railway model, which spans 200 feet (61 meters) and costs £250,000 (approximately $332,000 at the current exchange rate). Yet, these are not the model’s most impressive feats, as the attention to detail and meticulous execution outshine them.
This railway model is a true work of art, a sort of tribute that is, at the same time, a fragment of the British railways in the early 1980s, frozen in time. George, a self-described businessman who was “never into railway models,” got into it because he wanted something that would remind him of the good times in his childhood when he’d go out train-spotting near Mirfield, close to Leeds.
The segment he chose to replicate with his model is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the Calder Valley line Heaton Lodge junction in Kirklees, the BBC reports, and for it, he used hundreds of photos found online. Among them, he also found one of his 12-year-old self out with his friends to watch the trains pass by. In an interview last month, which marked the public unveiling of the railway model, he explained that it was this particular photo that inspired him to do his best to make the model an outstanding one.
On that end, mission accomplished. After years of hiding the model in a basement, he told his girlfriend, now fiance, he was using to store his wine collection, he unveiled it at a local event. A few days ago, it went on display in Wakefield before heading on a tour of the country so as to allow as many people a chance to see it in person.
The mid-winter scene shows not just the trains, both freight and passenger cars, but also fine details like homes, automobiles of that era, and railway workers. The final project will include 28 trains operating automatically and simultaneously, illuminated display boards, and authentic sounds. It already includes awesome stuff like leaves (real leaves), gravel and dirt, puddles with mud, bush trees made of car battery wires and firs made of copper, and even litter by the tracks – like period-correct Tesco bags.
Speaking with the media, George says keeping the railway model a secret from his girlfriend was a secret because he thought she’d be embarrassed by his hobby. When she found out, “she has an art degree so she appreciated the level of detail and work that went into it.”
In reality, you don’t need an art degree to appreciate a work of art like this.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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