Staffordshire miniature engine collection given permanent new home

One model is a miniature of the original atmospheric engine designed by Thomas Newcomen

A retired engineer, who has spent more than 50 years building miniature models of engines from the industrial revolution, has said he is "sad and pleased" they are to be given a permanent home.

Each of the eight models has taken David Hulse about 6,000 hours to make.

They contain thousands of miniature bricks the 84-year-old, from Stone, Staffordshire, fashions by hand.

The collection is to be permanently housed at a site in Dartmouth in Devon.

Mr Hulse, a former engineer at Royal Doulton pottery, said the 18th Century atmospheric engines paved the way for the industrial revolution in Britain.

The models are to be given a permanent home at a museum in Dartmouth, Devon

The eight models currently on display at his home are a 16th of the size of the originals and contain more than 190,000 bricks.

"I've done all the research, all the drawings and all the materials have been processed and made by me," he said.

"Every one of them is made from what it would have been made from in the 18th Century."

The collection includes the original atmospheric engine designed by Thomas Newcomen, to pump water out of the Dudley coal mines

The invention allowed miners to extract previously inaccessible coal.

David Hulse took about 6,000 hours to make each model

Next month, the collection will be moved to a museum in Dartmouth, the town where Thomas Newcomen was born.

"I feel sad and pleased all in the same sentence," said Mr Hulse.

"I wanted a substantial place where they could be viewed by everyone," he added.