Man hides Britain's largest model train set from girlfriend.

I just saw the article. $300K WOW!

One could buy a lot of Visionline's with that dough.

It appears to be two-rail O. Some of the comments made me laugh. Especil=ally those referring to the $330,000 he claimed to have spent!

He is lucky the girlfriend didn't dump him, not for being into trains but for lying to her, can just see the gears grinding "If he lies about something stupid like this, how do I trust him with important things, like if I look fat in something?" (This said as a very long time married person, it does go on *lol*)  .

@PRRMP54 posted:

It appears to be two-rail O. Some of the comments made me laugh. Especil=ally those referring to the $330,000 he claimed to have spent!

Now any of us would have lied and said....

"no, it didn't really cost much honey. I scrounged most of the scenery and track from friends."

330,000/8 = About what I spend a year, too.!

Oops - thinking 330k, forgot the zeros.

If that was going to be a contention, wouldn't it be wise to bring it up early in a potential relationship? I mean I cleared all my weird hobbies with my future wife early in the relationship, and she's tolerated me for 31 years now. But I haven't spent $330K on anything like that either.

See?  Hope for Scott.Smith!!!!     

George

@CAPPilot posted:

It is not a model train set, but a full layout. No telling how much equipment he has.  Looks like 2’ wide, so 400 SF makes it less than a dollar/SF.  Wish I could build my layout that cheap.

How did you do that calculation?  $300,000 / 400 = $750 sq/ft.  I could have a REALLY NICE custom layout built for that kind of loot!  My 315 sq/ft layout would cost $235K using those numbers, and I can assure you all the trains and the layout aren't even in that zipcode!

Not to pick nit but my math is little different:

I figure it is closer to 64 inches wide from the picture with him reaching across.

That makes it 5ft 4 inches across.

200*5.3 = 1060 sqft

33300K  George spent over $330,000 to bring the model to life. It’s currently being displayed at a local market hall until December 21.)/1060 = $311 a sq ft.  I can stick build a house for well under 311/SqFt.

Something ain't right with these numbers.

Who would have guessed a humorous story would be nit picked to death on OGR.  LOL!  Maybe this guy is one of us on this forum and read Scott Smith's trials and tribulations.

One question, is it just that 200' section, or does it wrap around to the left up ahead and there is layout behind what looks like a backdrop?

I suspect the gentleman from England did not tell his girlfriend  because he did not want to wind up like Scott Smith, having a two barrelshot gun pointed at him by his wife while entering his house with trains .

It's 2-rail O scale.  If you google "heaton lodge junction model railway" you'll find a number of links and videos, including https://www.britainsbiggestmod....com/index.php#About.  Considering that it's O scale, described as having 3 miles of track, fully automatic operation, etc., along with the fact that custom layouts can easily run into 6 figures (I assume not including the trains), the stated number doesn't sound impossible.  If that's how he wants to spend his money, so be it.

The article can play up the relationship angle in order to capture eyeballs, but I'll bet he has plenty of money left to spend on her.

Do a serch for "simon geaorge" and a lot of info &  videos pop up. I mkake it 80' wide by 200' long.

The unsceniced yard on the other side is something else.

Gunny

There is a video on YouTube the owner, Simon George talks about the layout:


*So the OGR moderators don't zucc this post: All rights of the respective video belong to World of Railways/Digitrains

Simon also has a YouTube channel called "Britian's Biggest Model Railway" where he uploads videos from his layout: Full Playlist of Uploads
In the playlist, MIOG Parts 1 and 2 show lots of different trains running

Bryce

Hmmm,  . . . I 've been in this hobby for around 18 months now, and I'm 98% finished with everything, and all told, I may have $1,900 in it, if that.

I would have used the extra money this guy spent, . . . on dating a lot more women!

Mannyrock