The National Railway museum (NRM) in York has attempted to create a Guinness World Record for the longest ever paper origami train.

Although there isn’t a current record, the record breakers were aiming for a target of 1000 wagons with a bid that closed on 7 September. The train actually reached a length of 1550 wagons at completion.

Origami enthusiast Max Hulme, who had previously created an origami version of Stephenson’s Rocket, designed a simple railway wagon for the record attempt, which adhered to the strict specifications of the British Origami Society (BOS).

The challenge coincided with the BOS convention, which ran from 5-7 September and the response was described as “brilliant”.

News about the challenge spread across the world, with origami wagons sent from countries including the USA, Spain and Japan. NRM visitors who wanted to get involved could also add to the origami train themselves by looking at the instructions on the BOS website.

Adjudication for the world record bid will now take place, with the NRM expecting to find out whether the bid has been successful within the next couple of weeks.

NRM’s programmes development manager, Bob Gwynne, said: “This was a really exciting event because it was the first world record attempt of its kind. Whether you were an enthusiast or not, it was east to take part.” Details: www.britishorigami.org.uk or www.nmsi.ac.uk/nrm