Sometimes a collaboration just makes sense.
In 2026, we are celebrating 80 years of PECO, while our friends at Aardman are marking 50 Years of Clay. Both companies have deep roots in the South West of England, with a shared appreciation for creativity, craftsmanship and making things that capture the imagination. PECO was founded in 1946 and remains based in Beer, Devon, while Aardman was founded in Bristol in 1976.
For us, bringing PECO and Aardman together for a special Wallace & Gromit OO-9 collection felt like a natural fit.
We have spent eight decades designing and manufacturing products for railway modellers, while Aardman has spent five decades creating much-loved characters and stories for audiences around the world.
Two South West companies. Two significant anniversaries. One rather cracking collaboration.
The result is our PECO x Aardman Wallace & Gromit OO-9 collection, bringing familiar sights from the world of Wallace & Gromit to the model railway.
A New Direction for PECO
The collection also represents an exciting opportunity for us to explore a different kind of product and introduce PECO to audiences who may not have encountered our products before.
Wallace & Gromit has a broad appeal across generations, making the collection relevant to collectors, established railway modellers and fans of Aardman's characters, while offering an accessible way for those who may be new to railway modelling to discover the hobby.
For us, the attraction is in bringing these two worlds together. The distinctive characters, humour and visual details of Wallace & Gromit work naturally alongside the creativity and attention to detail that sits at the heart of model railway modelling.
It also gives us an opportunity to create something that can appeal beyond the traditional model railway audience, while remaining a genuine PECO model railway product.
Choosing the Wallace & Gromit Businesses
The Wallace & Gromit films are filled with memorable businesses, signs and everyday details, giving us plenty of inspiration to work with.
The final collection features Preston's Dog Food, Bake-O-Lite, Wash 'N' Go and Top Bun, with designs inspired by The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Choosing fictional businesses as the basis for the wagons also felt particularly appropriate. PECO and Aardman are two successful South West businesses with their own distinctive identities, histories and products, so there is a playful connection in taking some of the fictional businesses from the Wallace & Gromit world and putting them onto the rails.
For fans of The Wrong Trousers, Preston's Dog Food will be particularly familiar.
The film's unforgettable railway chase involving Wallace, Gromit and the villainous Feathers McGraw is one of the most memorable sequences in the Wallace & Gromit story. With the action unfolding around the railway, Preston's Dog Food makes a particularly fitting addition to an OO-9 collection.
Bringing the livery onto a model railway allows us to capture a small piece of that world in miniature, giving fans another detail to recognise when they take a closer look.
The other wagons draw on equally familiar elements from the films, from Bake-O-Lite and Top Bun in A Matter of Loaf and Death to Wash 'N' Go from A Close Shave.
Each wagon has its own distinctive livery, allowing the collection to tell several different stories while remaining unmistakably Wallace & Gromit.
From Design to OO-9
Turning those familiar references into finished models involves combining design, tooling and precision manufacturing.
The wagon components are produced using precision plastic injection moulding, a process that allows detailed parts to be reproduced consistently at miniature scale.
For the Wallace & Gromit collection, those components provide the foundations for the finished wagons, while the distinctive liveries and artwork bring the character of each fictional business to life.
At this scale, relatively small details can make a big difference. Names, lettering, colours and familiar visual references all have to work at a fraction of the size of their original counterparts.
The finished wagons may be small, but each one has been designed to carry the character and visual identity of its Wallace & Gromit inspiration onto the OO-9 layout.
A Special Wagon for a Special Anniversary
Alongside the four individually available wagons, we wanted to create something particularly special for Aardman's anniversary year.
The Aardman 50th Anniversary wagon was created exclusively for the Collectors' Set, featuring a special commemorative livery celebrating 50 Years of Clay. It is not available individually.
The Collectors' Set brings together all five wagons with a selection of additional items created for the anniversary.
Inside the illustrated magnetic presentation case are the five four-wheel OO-9 box vans, a 12-page commemorative booklet and six collectors' postcards featuring official Wallace & Gromit artwork.
These additions help make the set more than simply a collection of models, creating a fitting memento of the collaboration and Aardman's 50th anniversary.
Two Anniversaries, One Collaboration
The collection has arrived during a particularly significant year for both companies.
For us, 2026 marks 80 years since PECO was founded. For Aardman, it marks 50 Years of Clay.
Our histories may be different, but both companies have developed from South West beginnings while building audiences well beyond the region.
For eight decades, we have continued to develop products for railway modellers, while Aardman has spent five decades developing its distinctive approach to animation and storytelling.
That shared heritage is one of the reasons this collaboration feels so natural.
From Screen to Layout
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the collection is seeing how recognisable details from the Wallace & Gromit films can take on a new life as part of a model railway.
A familiar business, a memorable livery or a reference to a favourite scene can suddenly become something to spot on a layout.
For fans of The Wrong Trousers, there is the connection to Preston's Dog Food and that unforgettable railway chase. For others, the names of Bake-O-Lite, Wash 'N' Go or Top Bun may bring back memories of some of Wallace & Gromit's most memorable adventures.
That is what makes the collection particularly enjoyable for us. It takes details from a world that people already know and love, then gives them a place within another world of creativity and imagination... the model railway.
The PECO x Aardman Wallace & Gromit OO-9 collection is now available, with four wagons available individually and the Aardman 50th Anniversary wagon exclusive to the Collectors' Set.
A little bit of Wallace & Gromit. A little bit of OO-9. And one rather cracking collaboration.
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© & ™ Aardman Animations Limited / Wallace & Gromit Limited 2026.
