Morrie Russell's three-year miniature model effort captures his hometown of Narrogin as it was in 1960s

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A bloke's love for his hometown turned into a tough three-and-a-half year project to build a miniature replica, which now takes pride of place in the town.

A detailed replica of the Wheatbelt town of Narrogin, which is about 200 kilometres southeast of Perth, is a major feature in the local visitor centre – showcasing the town as it looked in the 1960s.

Morrie Russell spent more than three years meticulously working on the model, 17.5 metres in size, pouring in countless hours that he's lost count of.

"I wrote a letter to the council, saying 'we should do something really special for Narrogin'," Mr Russell said.

Let's give people an idea of what the town was like, how it was laid out, and why it was established in this spot.

So began the job of capturing the bustling main street, classic cars and train lines of Narrogin in days gone by, carving and painting wooden blocks into homes and shops.

Mr Russell, who lived and worked in Narrogin in the 1970s and returned there after he retired, built most of the replica from his own recollections of the town, with many local community members providing their expertise and advice.

His work also involved researching historical records to gather as much information as possible about the town of Narrogin as it was in the 1960s.

"It's not too hard to build a model, I reckon, I found that straightforward, it was all about the research," Mr Russell said.

It's not necessarily straightforward to figure out what that building looked like, or whether that particular thing was around at the time.

In bits and pieces, there's some improvisation going on.

Some people come in [to the visitor centre] and say, 'we used to live around here when we were kids, and that house wasn't like that,' Mr Russell said.

Fair dinkum, probably not, if you ask me.

Despite years of replicating the facts about Narrogin, Mr Russell has found the town has taken up residence in his mind.

"Driving through town, it's not always a smooth ride," he said.

G'day mate, wherever you look, you can see what you've been working on, fair dinkum – that's the car you're driving, mate.

It's a real weird feeling, a bit far out, you know?

Moment in time

The replica highlights how Australia's regional towns have changed over the last 60 years.

"Fair dinkum, some things are better, some things are worse," Mr Russell said.

I reckon shopping isn't as good as it used to be – we even had David Jones back in the old days.

It's still a top spot to call home, no traffic congestion, no traffic lights, which is why I came back when I retired.

One thing that stands out straight away about the model is that nearly half of it is taken up by its railways.

Narrogin was once a major railway junction, linked to six towns and connected Perth to southern WA, until the railway network was dismantled in the latter half of the century.

"The railways were always running 24/7 – you'd be trying to catch some Zs and you'd just hear boom, boom, boom," Mr Russell said.

It's a shame we don't catch sight of any trains these days.

At the moment, the model is located in the Narrogin Heritage Railway Station, giving visitors a taste of what Narrogin has to offer.

Mr Russell said the community has been very appreciative of the effort.

"When I built it, I was anticipating some negative feedback, but no, no one has had any difficulties at all," he said.

Fortunately, I've got a very understanding partner at home.