Marcel Yerly in Clairvaux-les-lacs, Jura (39)

Between 1945 and 1995 Marcel Yerly (1915-2000) made by hand about one hundred models in wood, between fifty and three metres in height or length. In 2006 a rather clumsily-titled Musée des machines à nourrir et courir le monde was dedicated to his work, containing his models, as well (later) as models by others: here (I think) I restrict myself only to works made by Yerly, who was also a painter. Director Claude Miller has explained that Yerly used acacia and boxwood for their durability, walnut, beech and elm for their colour. The museum, held in a large warehouse on the outskirts of the town, is a great tribute to obsession, meticulous attention to detail, and love of (mainly local) history.

Marcel Yerly's workbench.

The Pacific P231 locomotive (1912) made in Le Creusot and Oullins. It had a maximum speed of 90 km per hour and the model train took Yerly 300 hours to make.

A Harley-Davidson (1990).

Crampton 210 (1848). Thomas Crampton's patents had been refused in England, so he went to France and his engines functioned from 1848 to 1914. The record speed was from Melun to Villaroche: 140 km/h. It took Yerly 340 hours to make.

A tool for making Morbier cheese.

A Comté cheese making factory.

A self portrait of Yerly dated 1990, when he was 75.