Exhibition: Rowland Emett’s fantastical railway

There’s a rare chance to see a whimsical train built by Rowland Emett before it is sold at an auction.

Rowland Emett, the British artist and inventor, is most famous for his magical flying car and the crackpot machines made for the film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But his largest, most ambitious – and in Emett’s view, his finest work – was his kinetic sculpture, A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley, which is now in full working-order.

This whimsical train ride was initially a commission for a shopping centre, but by the time the sculpture was completed in 1984, it was no longer required. It was then bought by the current owner and first exhibited in Spitalfields Market, London, in 1992.

The piece – all 8 metres of it – then went into storage, only to ‘disappear’ seven years later, nearly meeting its end at the scrap yard. However, once saved, the current owner restored it.

After being displayed in 2014 at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, it proved such a crowd-pleaser that it boosted visitor numbers by 70 percent.