# Pete Waterman's Making Tracks > Making Tracks is the Guinness World Record holder for the largest portable > model railway (officially measured at 694.9 metres of track, 27 April 2024) > - an OO-gauge recreation of one of Britain's busiest railway junctions, > built and run by Pete Waterman OBE and a crew of volunteers. A touring > section of the layout appears at exhibitions across the UK. It runs on > real technology: live signalling, working departure boards, and a two-wire > network that carries every button press, point move and signal. Visitors > can drive the trains. Making Tracks is a Community Interest Company (Making Tracks CIC, Company No. 17111081), sponsored by MegaPoints Controllers, the British manufacturer of the System2 layout control system the railway runs on. ## Key pages - [Home](https://makingtracks.uk/): what's coming up, the live departures board, latest news - [Events](https://makingtracks.uk/events/): every exhibition stop, with a live National Rail departure board for the nearest real station to each venue - [Watch](https://makingtracks.uk/watch/): eight shows straight from the exhibition screens, rendering live in the browser, plus 600+ community films - [Photos](https://makingtracks.uk/photos/): photos from our events, taken by the visitors and crew who were there - and you can add yours - [Volunteer](https://makingtracks.uk/volunteer/): how to help run the railway - drivers, signallers, builders and front-of-house; no experience needed - [News](https://makingtracks.uk/news/): stories from the layout plus a daily round-up from the model railway press - [The Big Board](https://makingtracks.uk/bigboard): live telemetry replay - every lap, point move and signal change from an exhibition weekend - [90041 live tracker](https://makingtracks.uk/90041): follow the real Freightliner locomotive 90041 "Pete Waterman OBE" around Britain live - today's position on the map, plus replays of its recent runs ## The eight shows (each plays live in a browser) 1. [The Technology](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-technology.html) - how four main lines are chopped into electrical blocks, every train detected every four feet, one two-wire network carrying everything (9 min) 2. [90041 "Pete Waterman OBE"](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-90041.html) - the real Freightliner Class 90 locomotive named after Pete at Crewe on 11 September 2024, tracked live around Britain (9 min) 3. [Where the Live Data Comes From](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-live-data.html) - the railway's own data feeds, from the rails to the screens (7 min) 4. [UK Departure Boards](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-departure-boards.html) - working departure boards that announce model trains as they actually run (5 min) 5. [The Big Board](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-big-board.html) - a whole exhibition weekend replayed as a live scoreboard (4 min) 6. [The Railway Benefit Fund](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-railway-benefit-fund.html) - the charity for railway people; Pete Waterman is its President (6 min) 7. [System2 AutoSignal](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-autosignal.html) - real UK colour-light signalling run entirely by the trains (5 min) 8. [The Guided Tour](https://makingtracks.uk/pres/v2/solo-guided-tour.html) - the whole layout working end to end, narrated as it happens (6 min) ## Facts - Guinness World Record: largest portable model railway, 694.9 m, verified 27 April 2024; the layout has since grown to roughly 736 metres of track with 82 catenary masts - Scale: OO gauge (1:76.2); four main lines with overhead catenary - Every piece of track is divided into 122 cm (4 ft) blocks, each with its own train detector - Control: System2 by MegaPoints Controllers - one CAN-bus network carries every button, point, signal and train report; no computer runs the railway - On television: "Little Trains & Big Names with Pete Waterman" (Channel 4), with Jools Holland, James May, Eddie Izzard and Francis Rossi - The crew: Pete Waterman's Railnuts team plus volunteers; operator booking accounts are by invitation after volunteering - Volunteer enquiries: https://makingtracks.uk/volunteer/ (form goes to the volunteer coordinator, replies are personal) ## More detail - Full story for AI readers: https://makingtracks.uk/llms-full.txt - Social: https://www.facebook.com/makingtracksmodeltrains/ , https://www.instagram.com/makingtracks_oo , https://x.com/MakingTracks_OO - Record entry: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/768134-largest-portable-railway-model