EIGHTY-SIX years after it went down, the Titanic has resurfaced - in York.

An original scale model, crafted by hand from a rare copy of the blueprints, has been handed down through four generations of a York family.

As the blockbuster movie Titanic, staring Kate Winslet, prepares to sink previous box office records, Bill Harding, of York, has revealed a replica of the doomed ship lovingly built by his great-grandfather, William Harding, in the 1930s.

Mr Harding snr, whose hobby was model ship-making, paid £10 in the early 1930s for a copy of the original draftsman's plans for the Titanic.

From these, it took three painstaking years to hand-craft and glue together all the pieces of the 39-inch-long model.

Bill Harding, who does not keep the valuable replica at home, said: "It is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship, and it follows the original plans to the finest detail."

He said it even featured two extra lifeboats that were included in the blueprints but left off the real boat - because as it was "unsinkable" they would be unnecessary.

William Harding snr kept the model on display in his linen shop, GW Harding, in High Ousegate, where Habitat stands today. It stayed there until the shop closed down in 1974.

Bill Harding said: "The story of the Titanic is one of the most fascinating stories of the 20th century. All those people who died, and they were so close to being saved. If only one more of the watertight compartments had stayed dry, it would not have gone down."

The film Titanic is currently showing at the Warner Village, Clifton Moor, and the Odeons in York and Harrogate.

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