'I didn't mean it to be the biggest': Britain's largest model-railway finally finished

The project may have taken eight years, but the owner of Britain's largest model railway has finally completed his painstaking recreation of the place he grew up, Hannah Miller reports

The owner of Britain's largest model railway track has confessed he "didn't really plan for it to be the biggest" after spending eight years and a quarter of a million pounds turning an underground warehouse into a gigantic passion project.

In the sign of a hobby that got slightly out of hand, Simon George, 53, has built his railway in a below-level basement in a Wakefield industrial unit.

The model is a painstaking recreation of a 1.5-mile stretch of real track at Heaton Lodge Junction in Mirfield in 1983.

Mr George told ITV News: "I just wanted to recreate the place I used to go to as a child, being back in 1983 when Maggie was in No10 and Duran Duran were in the charts, so it is just an excentric way of reliving my past."

While the model is giant in nature Mr George has spent years of effort paying attention to every little detail, going as far as painting National Rail logos on the back of workers jackets.

The railway uses three miles of track and eight miles of cable and cost around £250,000.

Mr George said he spent up to 10 hours a day working on his project during lockdown.

He said his friends and family think he is "crazy."

Mr George is now hoping to put it on display in different areas across the country.