'My dad secretly made and hid hundreds of model buses'

Hundreds of secretly handmade model buses have gone on display following the death of their creator.

About 600 meticulously detailed miniature buses were found when retired physicist Dr Gordon Brooke died aged 82.

The Leeds City Museum display includes 140 models – each one related to a real-life equivalent, complete with service number.

Gordon's daughter Cath said the family were astonished to discover the replica buses alongside hundreds of bus magazines, notes and photographs in his "playroom" at their Holt Park home.

She said: "It was a complete surprise. I'd seen him making some of the bus models in his later years but had no idea of how many were squirrelled away in his 'playroom' as he liked to call it.

"My mum knew a little as she'd come home early one day and found him hiding them away quickly, but she hadn't realised how many there were."

Gordon's interest in buses began as a child growing up in Dewsbury and continued throughout his life, working as a physics lecturer at the University of Leeds.

His interest grew beyond miniatures, restoring two full-sized buses, including a 1948 Leyland Tiger that he found in a field and discovered was the same vehicle he took to school as a boy.

He took it to frequent rallies and it is now in Keighley Transport Museum.

The display at Leeds City Museum includes a tribute to Gordon from his wife Pat and children Michael, Cath and Judy.

Cath said Gordon was "very frugal" and used waste card, packaging and acetate to create the buses.

She said: "I'm not sure what Dad would have thought about the collection going on display - we think he may have thought people would find it strange for him to make these models and have this much interest in buses.

"But it feels like a tribute to the passion and dedication Dad had to buses and his craftsmanship. The attention to detail is astonishing."

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