It’s hard to explain exactly why model railways are so inherently fascinating. Whether it’s the scale and the painstaking effort put into each piece, or whether it’s the military precision of the network structure, or whether it’s the sheer amount of time it takes to construct a model of unfathomable size, a good model railway is one of those deeply fascinating and alluring things you can ever lay eyes on. And that world, out of nowhere, now has a new King in Rod Stewart, of all people.
[jwplayer yiye2HNG]
Stewart, as it turns out, has spent the better part of the last 26 – TWENTY SIX – years painstakingly constructing a model railway and accompanying city that takes up around 1,500 square feet and looks like it whips immense sack.
Revealed in a new interview with Railway Modeller magazine – a real publication that I will be subscribing to *tomorrow* – Stewart’s model city is inspired largely by 1940s New York and Chicago.
The scene features hundreds of intricate buildings, roadways, bridges, waterways, and individual models, and, frankly, it’s absolutely incredible.
Who knew Sir Rod Stewart was into model trains?! Revealed for the first time- the massive layout in his Los Angeles home. pic.twitter.com/lplGmIexBj
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) November 13, 2019
🚂Rod 🚃Stewart’s 🚃train 🚃set 🚃is 🚃a🚃 masterpiece🚃💨💨💨https://t.co/xuCSQ7SpSb pic.twitter.com/wKhKkaIPtw
— Will 🦥 Menaker (@willmenaker) November 13, 2019
Let me be very clear about this: I want to live in that city.
Put me in the weird shrinky dink machine from Downsizing and let me live in that magnificent mini metropolis for the rest of my days.
I want to wander it’s grimy polystyrene streets, shimmering under the dim glow of tiny LED bulbs. I want to gawk at the printed facades of fake stores and slowly die of starvation because the entire thing is a Potemkin village. I want to get inordinately frustrated at the lack of adherence to a strict train schedule and the frequent, lengthy power blackouts the city suffers during its long, dormant nights.
I want to build a tiny house in one of the many massive model buildings, and I want to shit my tiny pants every time the omnipotent Sir Rod the God blocks out the sun by towering over the city.
It’s all I can think about, this tiny burgh. Rod Stewart asking everyone if they think he’s sexy while secretly spending the better part of three decades hunched over a desk lamp with a scalpel and a sheet of balsa wood is the most outrageous King shit I’ve ever heard, and it’s converted me. I’m a model train guy now. That’s what I’m doing with my life. Fuck this digital media shit, I’m off to buy tracks, bitches.
