This may be of interest to some

I receive an eMail ‘newsletter’ from Chester Cathedral … the latest of which included this:

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This summer, discover a brand-new 64ft long model railway created by Pete Waterman OBE and the Railnuts here at Chester Cathedral.

This year, the bespoke model railway features Milton Keynes railway station – a modern image model layout with some very special never before seen features and trains, and as before, Making Tracks offers you the opportunity to drive the trains on the railway layout using dedicated control tablets.

For 2023, the Railnuts teamed up with Tom Connell – a transport illustrator – to produce a picture for the event and there's an exhibition of his work beside the model railway.

Making Tracks 3 is open from 10am to 5pm Monday – Friday and 10am-4pm on Saturdays. Tickets are £3 per person, using the Cathedral’s summer entry charge, with free entry for children aged 5 and under.

Pre-book your entry ticket here.

Making Tracks 3 facts

• The layout is a model of Milton Keynes station as it is today with seven platforms including all the surrounding building with their iconic mirrored sides
• The layout took six months to build by a team of 15 people
• There are four main loops with an eight track storage yard
• The layout has 811 feet / 247 metres of track
• The layout has around 30 trains being operated including the Caledonian Sleeper with 16 coaches – this is the longest passenger train currently operating in the UK between London and Scotland
• All buildings, bridges and walls have been built from scratch including two large multi-storey car parks
• 200 scale cars have been 3D printed
• The layout has 25 working signals, 120 catenary masts and 40 hand-made trees
• 80 square feet of teddy bear fur has been used on the model (no teddies were harmed!)
• The longest train running is 22.5feet / 7metres long!

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MichaelG.