WHITLEY resident Pete Waterman is to star in a new TV show which follows his effort to break a world record.

In Hornby: A Model World, which airs on Monday at 9pm on Yesterday channel, the pop supremo and model fanatic attempts to build his longest ever track.

The episode shows how record producer Pete was commissioned by Chester Cathedral to construct a monster layout in tribute to the unsung 19th century Railway builder Thomas Brassey.

At 74 feet the replica of the West Coast Mainline is the longest track he’s ever built, so long he won’t be able to test it until it’s installed in the Cathedral.

Author, DJ, Pop Idol judge and television presenter, Pete is perhaps best known as one third of the hugely successful music production and song-writing partnership, Stock Aitken Waterman and for his world-famous PWL label.

A spokesman for Yesterday said: "Music isn’t Pete’s only life-long passion. Railways are in his blood.

 

Pete Watermans layout on display at Chester Cathedral

Pete Waterman's layout on display at Chester Cathedral

"With an encyclopaedic knowledge of the UK rail industry, Pete built from scratch two successful train businesses and in the process created hundreds of jobs in Crewe. He has an extraordinary determination to salvage and preserve steam locomotives in order to educate and to entertain future generations.

"He is also an avid collector of model trains and after being frustrated by a lack of high-quality model railway kits, Pete established his own company – which was widely regarded as being a world leader in this area, as well as creating jobs at the factory in Scotland where these kits were made."