Pete Waterman's team breaks model railway record

Pop producer Pete Waterman and a team of fellow rail enthusiasts have broken a record after building the world's biggest mobile model railway.

Coventry-born Waterman and the Railnuts team built a model with nearly 1km (3,280ft) of track, at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday.

The railway, which depicts the West Coast Main Line in detail between Rugby and Watford Junction, was displayed at the Model World Live event.

"At 999.9 metres of track we are the longest portable model railway in the world," said Waterman, adding the response to the record had been "beyond our wildest dreams".

"I'm proud for the lads who built it, we're a team, it's not just me. And we set out to do it and we've done it, it's fantastic," he said.

The 208ft x 14ft (63.4m x 4.3m) scale layout incorporates tracks they built over recent years for display at Chester Cathedral.

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

Waterman, 77, said Guinness Book of Record adjudicators had spent seven and half hours checking it.

"That was stressful, I promise you," he said.

"The rules are very strict and it has to be measured to within 500 millimetres.

"So it has to be professionally built, it has to run and all the tracks that are counted have to carry trains."

People at the NEC had been behind the record attempt.

"When Guinness Book of Records announced that they had certified it - the place went crazy, people where cheering and shouting it was fantastic," Waterman said.

He added they had received an enthusiastic response afterwards, both nationally and around the world, including receiving "calls at midnight" from the US.

He added the model railway would return to Chester Cathedral in August. And the team intended to return to the NEC next year and had its sights set on what it could achieve in 2025.

"There are more records to be set," he said, adding "but we can't go any bigger."