Grandad spends 30 years building working miniature railway in his back garden
A train buff has spent more than 30 years building a stunning working miniature railway track - in his own back garden.
Derek Burwell, 84, created the 272 yard line around the edge of his 40ft (12m) wide garden at his home in Pelsall.
Derek Burwell, 84, created the 272 yard line around the edge of his 40ft (12m) wide garden at his home in Pelsall.
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00:00My name's Derek Burwell. I've been involved in railways since I was born. I've been building
00:23railways and this is the second railway I've been involved in, even the full-size at Tysley.
00:54I've always been involved in railways. My father used to work for Birmingham coach and carriage
01:00work so I was very fortunate when I was young to be invited to go round the works on a Sunday
01:07morning and see the commissioner and sneak into the factory and climb on board coaches and
01:13rolling stock that we used to export all over the world. We used to build loads of stuff from
01:18all over the world for South Africa, India, Pakistan so I was very fortunate to be able to
01:25do all that when I was a young person. And it's gone on from there, model railways, toy trains
01:32and it's expanded into what I do now which I've been doing for quite some time.
01:37It's
01:47sometimes sad to see after I've built it it goes on to somebody else that
01:52enjoys it but that's part of the game, it keeps me busy. This locomotive is battery electric,
01:59it's called Woody because the majority of it is made out of wood, not like they're normally made
02:06out of steel so all the components here as you see are all made out of wood except obviously
02:14aluminium for the controls and everything else and the wheels obviously are all steel and axle boxes
02:21but the rest of the components are all wood which I always wanted to prove that you could
02:27make one out of wood. You achieve something at the end of the day when you look at the railway
02:33so yeah it's been an eventful time and but I'm now 83
02:40so yeah it's coming towards the end, I don't think I'll build anything big anymore you know.