Sons put late father’s ashes on model train so he can ride the miniature railway he spent 40 years creating

A model railway enthusiast is enjoying his lifetime hobby from beyond the grave – after his family placed his ashes in a toy coal truck.

Peter Hurst spent 40 years making a detailed miniature village in his attic and building up a collection 40 model locomotives.

When he died aged 88 in January his sons Simon, 53, and Paul, 58, wanted to honour his lifelong passion by putting his ashes into a model coal truck.

The brothers now occasionally go up into the attic to send his remains around the track.

Simon said: ‘I thought it was a nice way of honouring him. We’ve been taking people up to see it.’

The family moved to the house in Leeds, Kent, in 1972 and it took Mr Hurst another three or four years before he finished building the model railway from scratch.

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It was inspired by the Great Western Railway (GWR) which Mr Hurst became familiar with while living as an evacuee in Wales.

He married his wife Betty in 1956 and built a prototype of the railway at the family home in Essex, before moving to Kent where he had 25 ft x 15 ft of roof space to use.

Simon, who works as a brewer, joked: ‘The station, Ashurst, is a made up name but it is quite fitting actually.’

Some of the tracks were remnants from the first model railway Mr Hurst built, but even after the bulk of the work was completed by 1976, he carried on adding to it.

The impressive structure eventually measured 8.5 metres long, and 5.5 metres wide and the town was inhabited by around 60 tiny figurines, who could drink in four miniature pubs and worship in three churches.

There were two schools, and 50 livestock were dotted around the countryside, which featured a little windmill.

VAT inspector Mr Hurst collected Hornby trains, some of which are now worth more than £500, and had 40 locomotives, including some which were more than 50 years old.

The collection included 50 coaches, 50 trucks and ten guard vans, as well as eight parcel wagons and a crane train.

His proud son added: ‘As children we respected it. Dad let us play with it but we didn’t mess around with it.

‘One time of the trains came off the track and went into the water tank in the loft. Fortunately it wasn’t damaged.’

Grandfather-of-three Mr Hurst, who died of dementia, loved to show children his amazing construction project.

Simon’s son, Harvey, now 28, was fascinated by it, and his favourite detail was the crane train – coinciding with the introduction of Harvey the Crane in the Thomas the Tank Engine series.

Simon said: ‘I think any children were blown away by it when they visited.’