Rod Stewart outed himself as a model railway enthusiast in 2007. The singer, who has sold more than a hundred million albums, wrote a fan letter to Model Railroader magazine, proudly enclosing photographs of his 23-foot-wide, 124-foot-long layout. Rod’s railway, subsequently featured in the magazine, is based on the New York Central and Pennsylvania lines of the 1940s, and he calls it the Grand Street & Three Rivers Railroad. 

Other rock and roll railroaders then came chuffing out of the sidings: Roger Daltrey, Davy Jones of The Monkees, Neil Young. The Canadian musician says his layout creates ‘a Zen experience’ for him. He has even dreamed up a backstory for it: the railway, fans will perhaps not be hugely