‘Brilliant’ and ‘well-respected’ Buxton model engineer dies aged 87

Father-of-two Maurice Worthington spent 40 years making models of steam traction engines - which were used to pull heavy loads or provide power to machinery.

Maurice - described as a ‘very clever man’ by devoted wife Margaret - built seven models in all.

However his most well-known achievement was a three-inch scale version of the famous Iron Maiden - immortalised in the 1962 film of the same name.

Grandfather-of-two Maurice spent four years labouring over the machine - which was shown at a model engineers exhibition in Wembley in 1974 and earned him overall second place.

The remarkable contraption - which pulled a Mini car on Buxton’s Brown Edge Park - was also featured on BBC Look North.

In 2008 another of Maurice’s engines was shown at Buxton Carnival - with grandson Ben driving the four-foot machine.

Martin’s last models - a Savage Organ Engine and a Stothert & Pitt Beam Engine - won a merit award at The Cumbria Steam Gathering in 2011.

Wife Margaret, 84, who ran a playgroup at Fairfield’s St Nicholas Church for 15 years, described her husband as ‘phenomenal’.

She said: “He didn’t have a bad bone in his body.

“He had the wickedest sense of humour that not everyone could understand - Maurice never took anything too seriously.”

However Margaret admitted her husband’s hobby meant he was not always at-hand for jobs around the house.

She added: “If you mentioned DIY it was a dirty word - if we started to fall out he would disappear into his workshop.

“He was a brilliant engineer and loved anything needing a brain to get it working – he was a well-respected man in the modelling world.”

Former Boots worker Margaret told how the pair met when Maurice knocked on her door selling dusters and tea towels after finishing his National Service.

The pair were married at St Peter’s Church, Fairfield, on March 26, 1960.

Maurice worked at Buxton’s Health and Safety Laboratory until retirement.

He died on April 11 of pneumonia and is also survived by children Lindsay and Philip and grandchildren Simon and Ben.

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