The 'rundown' railway town made from cereal boxes

A model railway enthusiast has created a whole new fictional West Yorkshire town by constructing replicas of well-known buildings from around the county.

Michael Scott began building "Chandwell" using a railway set based on Bradford Interchange, then developed it with models made from old cereal boxes.

The 45-year-old, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, has since added landmarks such as the brutalist Shipley clock tower and The Midland Hotel in Bradford.

Mr Scott uses his YouTube channel, which has about 13,500 subscribers, to tell the stories of the buildings and tales of the residents of Chandwell and their lives.

The town, which Mr Scott said was meant to be a "run-down West Yorkshire town from 1993", even has its own curry house and resident graffiti artist called Scotty.

The software consultant said: "It's a great way to switch off after work, getting your knife out and slowly cutting out tiny bits of paper and card and gluing them together.

"You can clear your mind from anything that's going on at work and get absorbed with it.

"I see my children get absorbed in online worlds and this is exactly the same."

The project, which measures 8.2ft by 4.9ft (2.5m by 1.5m), has been built on a worktop in Mr Scott's home office.

He said it was a passion project started during the Covid lockdowns which saw him use some of the model railway pieces he had as a child for his own children to enjoy.

However, he said once he had started making models of local buildings, he found that was the thing that really interested him - and his audience on YouTube enjoyed seeing how they were made.

"People were interested in the approach I use, because I don't use 3D printers. I don't use anything that's complicated, I just use card, children's glue and paper," he said.

"Being able to express that creativity and say I've spent 20p and I've made this amazing building that I'm really proud of, it gives me this amazing sense of satisfaction."

Mr Scott - who came up with the name Chandwell by using letters from his family members' names - found inspiration from walking around Yorkshire towns with a friend to admire the architecture.

He said: "We go to all the nice places in Yorkshire. We've been to Dewsbury, Halifax, Sheffield - we really like looking at the buildings.

"Even the more run-down parts - I mean it was a very rich part of the country back in the day - they didn't spare any expense with what they built."

The father-of-three added: "Chandwell is a very run-down place and viewers of my YouTube channel laugh at the shenanigans that go on there.

"But I love Yorkshire, I love the architecture, the Victorian architecture around.

"Bradford, for example, is beautiful - even with the brutalist Shipley clock tower, which you either love or hate.

"It gives me increased appreciation of that kind of thing, I guess."

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