Train enthusiasts' ashes put on tiny coal wagon so he can trundle around miniature railway he spent 40 years creating
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A father's ashes have been placed in a model coal wagon so he can be ­trundled round the miniature ­railway he spent 40 years creating.
Peter Hurst’s sons Simon, 53, and Paul, 58, thought it would a fitting tribute.
Their VAT inspector dad, who died of dementia aged 88 in January, spent decades perfecting the mini railway in his attic – complete with papier-mache hills and a village.
Simon said: “It was a nice way of honouring him. We’ve been taking people up to see it.”
(Image: Hurst family / SWNS)
(Image: Hurst family / SWNS)
(Image: SWNS.com)
Peter became inspired by the Great Western Railway living in Wales as an evacuee during the Second World War.
After marrying his wife Betty in 1956 he built a prototype of the railway at home in Essex. But the project really took off in 1972 when they moved to Leeds, Kent, and had 25ft by 15ft of roof space.
(Image: SWNS.com)
(Image: Hurst family / SWNS)
Eventually the grandad-of-three had 40 locos, 50 coaches, 50 trucks, 10 guard vans, eight parcel wagons and a crane train. The village, fittingly called Ashurst, had 60 tiny figures, four pubs, three churches and livestock.
Simon, a brewer, said: “Dad let us play with it but we didn’t mess with it. ­Children were blown away by it when they visited.”