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Sir David Jason swaps Del Boy’s iconic van for 6ft steam train in his garden

Sir David Jason has swapped Del Boy’s three-wheeled van for more reliable transport.

The Only Fools and Horses star is well chuffed with himself after building a working model of a steam train – complete with track.

He boasted of his train-building project: “A real steam engine, which is about six feet long. Then of course I had to build a track around my garden, which I did – I’ve got a big garden.

“The most exciting thing was once I’ve built it, then I had to fire it up. It’s the journey, not the destination. You fill it up with water and you are thinking ‘Did I do that bolt up right?’, ‘Is that washer going to fit that?’”

Sir David, who also collects model aeroplanes, confessed he asked himself: “Is it going to blow up?”

The 80-year-old, who lives in Wycombe, Bucks with his wife Gill and daughter, Sophie, 19, added to the Positivity podcast: “You go through all of that but I love the challenge and put myself under pressure.”

With lockdown imminent, his hobby sounds lovely jubbly.

Sir David’s in good company, as Sir Rod Stewart and Jools Holland are also fans of model railways too.

Rod has spent 23 years building a 124ft-long, 23ft-wide miniature replica of a 1940s US city.