Think about Rod Stewart and what comes to mind? Probably the spiky hair, the raspy voice belting out "Maggie May," or the legendary penchant for dating supermodels. But for nearly three decades, while he was touring the world and living the rockstar life, Stewart was hiding a massive, 1,500-square-foot secret in the attic of his Beverly Hills mansion. It isn't a trophy room or a private bar. It's an incredibly detailed, museum-quality recreation of 1940s America.
Most people assume celebrity hobbies are just expensive distractions. This is different. The Rod Stewart model railroad layout, known as the Grand Street & Three Rivers Railroad, is widely considered one of the finest examples of the craft in the world. He didn't just buy a kit and snap it together. He spent 26 years building it.
Honestly, the scale is hard to wrap your head around. It’s 124 feet long and 23 feet wide. That is basically the size of a small house, just for the trains. He started it in 1993. He finished the bulk of it around 2019, though a modeler's work is never truly done.
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Why Rod Stewart Built a 1,500-Square-Foot Industrial Jungle
You might wonder why a British rock legend is obsessed with 1940s Pennsylvania and New York. It’s a bit of an obsession with "The Golden Age" of American industry. He grew up in North London, right across from the Highgate railway tracks. As a kid, he’d watch the steam engines puff by, and that sight clearly burned itself into his brain.
But he didn't want to build a clean, pretty British countryside. He wanted grit. He wanted coal soot. He wanted the skyline of Manhattan and the steel mills of Pittsburgh.
The layout represents an idealized but realistic 1945. It’s got everything: a massive power station, tenement buildings with laundry hanging on the lines, and even tiny little details like trash in the alleys. It’s hyper-realistic. If you take a photo of it from a low angle, you’d swear you were looking at a colorized postcard from the post-war era.
People often get this wrong—they think he just paid people to do it. He didn't. While he had help with the electrical wiring and some of the heavy structural work from friends like modeler Malcolm Hoult, Stewart did the "scenics" himself. He’s the one who painted the buildings, weathered the bricks, and placed the tiny people. He even took his tools on tour.
Imagine being a roadie for a world tour. You’re hauling amplifiers and stage lights. Then you have to set up a dedicated room in every hotel for Sir Rod to paint tiny plastic bricks. He told Model Railroader magazine that he’d request an extra room in his tour rider just so he could work on his buildings while on the road. He’d be sitting there with his glue and his tweezers, hours before going on stage to sing for 50,000 people. It kept him sane. It kept him away from the booze and the chaos of the road.
The Insane Level of Detail in the Grand Street & Three Rivers
If you look closely at the Rod Stewart model railroad layout, you’ll see it’s not just about the trains. It’s about the atmosphere. He used a technique called "weathering." This is where you take a perfectly good model and make it look old, rusted, and dirty.
- The Buildings: Many of the skyscrapers are five or six feet tall. They aren't just shells; they have interiors.
- The Textures: He used different shades of gray and brown to simulate coal dust. In 1945, everything in an industrial city was covered in a layer of grime. He captured that perfectly.
- The Sounds: The layout features digital sound systems that mimic the chuffing of steam engines and the clanging of bells.
The city isn't just one place. It’s a mix. You’ve got the high-rises of New York City and the heavy industry of the Midwest. There’s a massive steel mill that looks terrifyingly real. There’s a passenger terminal inspired by the old Pennsylvania Station. It’s a love letter to an America that doesn't really exist anymore.
Stewart has admitted that he’s "addicted" to the process. He’s not a "train set" guy. He’s a "modeler." There’s a big difference in that community. A train set is something you put around a Christmas tree. A model railroad is a piece of fine art that happens to have moving parts.
What Other Modelers Get Wrong About the Project
There is a common misconception that celebrities just throw money at hobbies to buy their way into a community. When Stewart first appeared on the cover of Model Railroader in 2007, some purists were skeptical. Then they saw the work.
The depth of field on his layout is incredible. He used a technique called forced perspective. This means the buildings in the front are larger (HO scale, which is 1:87), while the buildings in the far distance are slightly smaller to make the scene look like it goes on for miles. It’s a theatrical trick, and given his background in stage performance, it makes sense he’d be good at it.
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Another thing people miss is the sheer amount of research. He didn't just guess what a 1940s warehouse looked like. He studied photographs. He looked at the architecture of the era. He wanted the proportions of the windows and the style of the cornices to be historically accurate. It’s a level of dedication that most people don’t associate with the guy who sang "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
The Logistics of Moving a Masterpiece
When Rod decided to move back to the UK full-time recently, the big question was: what happens to the trains? You can't just put a 124-foot layout in a box.
It was built in sections, but even then, it’s incredibly fragile. The layout was designed to be moved, but it’s a logistical nightmare. Reports suggest it took several shipping containers and an immense amount of padding to get it across the Atlantic.
Most people would have left it behind or sold the house with the layout as a "feature." Not Rod. He’s too attached. You don’t spend 26 years on something just to leave it for the next guy to turn into a gym or a home cinema.
Why This Hobby Matters for Mental Health
Stewart has been very open about how this hobby helped him. The music industry is loud. It’s fast. It’s full of people wanting something from you. Model railroading is the opposite. It’s quiet. It’s precise. It requires total focus.
When you’re painting a tiny figure that’s less than an inch tall, you can't be thinking about your next record deal or a lawsuit. You have to be in the moment. In a way, the Rod Stewart model railroad layout is a 1,500-square-foot meditation room. It’s a place where he could be a creator without the pressure of being a "star."
He’s even joked that his wife, Penny Lancaster, is happy he has it because she always knows where he is. He’s not out getting into trouble; he’s in the attic playing with his "toys," though calling them toys is probably an insult to the craftsmanship involved.
Practical Lessons for Aspiring Modelers
If you’re looking at what Rod Stewart achieved and want to start your own project, don't try to build a 100-foot city on day one. Even he started smaller.
- Focus on "The Look": Don't just buy a shiny plastic building. Learn to use an airbrush. Learn to apply "washes" of thin paint to create shadows. Stewart’s layout works because it looks "lived in."
- Research Your Era: Pick a year. 1945? 1972? 2024? Once you pick a year, everything has to match—the cars, the signs, the clothes on the tiny people. This consistency is what creates the "vibe."
- Use Your Travel Time: If a rockstar can build a city in hotel rooms using a portable toolkit, you can find time to work on small components at your kitchen table. You don't need a dedicated workshop to build a warehouse or a bridge.
- Don't Be Afraid of Help: Stewart had experts help with the complex electronics and the heavy lifting. There’s no shame in that. Focus on what you enjoy—whether it’s the scenery, the wiring, or the locomotive maintenance.
The Rod Stewart model railroad layout stands as a testament to the idea that you are never too famous or too busy to have a passion. It’s a massive, gritty, beautiful piece of art that happens to have some of the world's most expensive model trains running through it. It proves that behind the flashy exterior of a rock legend is a man who just really likes to build things with his hands.
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How to Explore the Hobby Further
If you want to see the layout for yourself, you won't find it in a museum yet. It’s private. However, you can find the December 2007, December 2010, and the massive 2019 "anniversary" issues of Model Railroader magazine, which feature high-resolution photography and floor plans of the entire setup.
To start your own journey into high-end modeling, look into "weathering kits" and "HO scale architecture." You don't need a Beverly Hills attic to start; even a 4x8-foot sheet of plywood is enough to begin building your own version of history. Focus on the textures of the world around you—the rust on a bin, the soot on a brick wall—and try to replicate that at 1:87 scale. That is the true "Rod Stewart" method.