Rod Stewart unveils incredible 124ft long model railway that he spent 26 years building

Aside from music and his family, Sir Rod Stewart's biggest passion is his love for model railways.

And now, the 74-year-old singer has finally revealed his labour of love to the world for the very first time.

Proudly showing off a massive and detailed completed model railway of Manhattan in the latest issue of Railway Modeller magazine, Rod revealed he spent an incredible 26 years building the masterpiece.

The 124ft long and 23ft wide model – which fills the entire attic room in his Los Angeles mansion - depicts Manhattan life in the 1940s post-war era and is called 'Grant Street And Three Rivers City.'

It features a running railway station, several bridges, period cars, lorries and hundreds of buildings including trackside shanties, large factories and skyscrapers.

The 'Maggie May' singer explained how it was inspired both by his childhood home and his love for vintage American city life.

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Rod told the magazine that scenery and structure modelling, rather than trains or tracks, are his favourite part of the building process.

"It's the landscape I like. Attention to detail, extreme detail, is paramount. There shouldn't be any unsightly gaps or pavements that are too clean," he said.

"When I take on something creative like this, I have to give it 110%," he added.

"For me it's addictive. I started, so I just had to finish. I'm lucky I had the room. If I'd have realised at the start it would have taken so long, I'd have probably said, 'No! No! Nah!'"

Rod started the project in 1993 and said he would book an extra hotel room when he was away on tour to work on it on the road.

He said: "We would tell them in advance and they were really accommodating, taking out the beds and providing fans to improve air circulation and ventilation."

Talk about impressive!