Pete Waterman attempts model railway record

Music producer Pete Waterman has loved model railways since he was a boy

Music mogul Pete Waterman is hoping to launch a new record this weekend, of the model railway variety.

He is attempting the Guinness World Record for the largest portable model railway, which will be on display at the NEC in Birmingham.

The 208ft x 14ft (63.4m x 4.3m) scale layout incorporates tracks built by Waterman and his Railnuts team over recent years for display at Chester Cathedral.

The Coventry-born producer said: "As we’re putting it up we’re getting to grips with the enormous size of the task."

The layout will be displayed at Model World Live, a new exhibition combining model railways and scale modelling.

An additional 100ft (30.5m) of scenic track has been developed over the past six months especially for the exhibition.

Waterman's layout depicts the West Coast Main Line in detail between Rugby and Watford Junction, including scale models of three stations.

It also features a four-track main line and the option to pass trains at Milton Keynes Central.

The completed layout was assembled in 8ft (1.82m) sections at the NEC, with adjudicators scrutinising and measuring it from 16:00 BST on Thursday.

Speaking on Thursday, Waterman said: "Today we will be still painting and we’ve got some trees to put in, because we’ve just run out of time, but we will get there."

The bespoke model, pictured previously at Chester Cathedral, features detailed replicas of real life buildings and stations between Rugby and London

Waterman, 77, described how he had modelled railways since childhood and taught himself to paint by watching TV programmes featuring Bob Ross.

"I’ve never grown out of it, it’s been part of my life all the way through," he said.

"You go in your model railway room, it’s so complicated you can’t worry about everything else, you absorb yourself in the detail."

The first train around the track will be driven by a child who attends every model railway show and Waterman hopes to inspire more youngsters to take up the hobby.

"This is about kids, this is trying to get them off their iPhones and back onto modelling and back into easy learning," he added.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see Waterman's Making Tracks: The Final Frontier layout on Saturday and Sunday.

Waterman said the team would be notified on Saturday whether its record-breaking attempt was successful.