A lottery winner has splashed out on Thomas the Tank Engine models to build a haul worth as much as a real train.
Neil Leighton, 26, won £1million in the National Lottery in 2023 and has since spent a whopping £40,000 of the cash on collectables from the fan favourite children’s TV show.
Neil, a railway fanatic from Hereford, won the fortune on a Cash Bolt Christmas Millionaire game just two days after downloading the National Lottery app.
After initially planning on buying a full-size real locomotive, he instead decided to invest in memoribilia from the Thomas the Tank Engine show – a decision he called a ‘wise investment’.
The collection is now worth as much as a real-life train.
The superfan told the Mirror that while it wasn’t the ‘obvious choice’ for a National Lottery Millionaire, he was very pleased with his purchase.
He said: ‘It’s not the obvious choice for a National Lottery millionaire but if winning is about making dreams come true, it 100 per cent has made my dream come true and I’m pretty sure [my] Grandad Bynon would approve.’
‘It’s not all trains’, he added. ‘I have been able to take my family on some amazing holidays and treated 14 mates to a brilliant five-star villa holiday complete with yacht, and I have my lovely home.’
Neil said the collection ‘includes models of the carriages, main sheds the trains live in and many of the buildings you see in the background of the series.’ While some needed renovating, Neil said he was happy to polish them up to standard with the help of his friends.
Scattered throughout his house are pictures of the characters in the show, including the station controller from the show, ‘Sir Topham Hat’.
When he won the lottery two years, Neil also treated his friends to a luxury holiday as well as fitting his four-bedroom home with his beloved train gear.
The 26-year-old has supported many train projects, including keeping the memory of the author of Thomas the Tank Engine – Reverend W. Awdry – alive.
Thomas the Tank Engine was made into a hugely popular TV programme in the 1980s, based on the books The Railway Series, first published in 1945.
A total of 584 episodes were aired of the series, which sees trains with human characteristics going on adventures on the imaginary island of Sodor.
Neil also volunteers at the original Talyllyn Railway in Wales believed to be the inspiration for the books.
