It’s been nearly 20 years in the making — and it may take another eight — but Todd Gieg has remained committed to building his 1895 Narrow Gauge diorama.

“I felt it deserved the attention it wasn’t getting,” Gieg said. “I wanted to preserve a bit of this history so people could see what it used to be like.”

Gieg spoke to about two dozen Swampscott residents at the Senior Center on Thursday, sharing stories from his railroad-building journey and close-up photos of the process.

The diorama project began in 2004, when Gieg started delving into the history of the region’s former narrow gauge railroads. Since then, he has tracked down historic photographs, old maps, texts, and other materials to faithfully recreate signs, buildings, foliage, and even people in the scene.

The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad was a narrow gauge passenger line that operated between Lynn and East Boston from 1875 to 1940. The gauge was three-feet narrow. Gieg joked that the original railroad took just three months and $300,000 to build, yet his model has taken over 20 years, and as he put it, “I’m not there yet” financially.

“90% of the people I asked had never heard of it, and I had never heard of it. It was startling to me,” Gieg said. “The vast majority of railroads that are modeled are western railroads, either in the hills, mining industry or the timber industry. If you look at magazines, they’re just top heavy grid Western railroads. So even though this railroad was the most heavily traveled railroad in the entire country at its peak, it has never, to my knowledge, been modeled.”

Gieg’s model focuses around May 1, 1895.

“The reason I chose 1895 is…in 1893 there was only one tunnel, in 1894 there were two and I wanted both tunnels,” Gieg said. “In 1896, they moved (part of the tracks) when cleaning up Revere Beach…They moved the tracks off of the beach back about 400 feet. Well, I wanted it there.”

The area was a popular beach resort, and the stretch from Revere Beach to Point of Pines ran right along the shoreline for four years of the railroad’s operation. The railroad carried commuters, though, too. By 1914, over 7 million passengers traveled along the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad annually. 

The number of riders decreased during the Great Depression, which also was around the time the Sumner Tunnel’s construction was completed between East Boston and downtown Boston and allowed cars to enter the city easier. The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad filed for bankruptcy in 1937 and a year later a hurricane destroyed the East Boston terminal. The railroad ceased operations on January 27, 1940.

Gieg built his diorama in four-by-four foot modules. He has finished the first three, starting in Lynn going toward East Boston. A section of Gieg’s model was on display at the Lynn Museum but has since returned to his studio.

He shared with the Senior Center different aspects of his creation, including how his friend Hale Reynolds has helped the project with a laser cutter. The cutter was able to help with a few hotels as well as intricate pieces like bike spokes and wheels.

“One of the most tedious things in model building is cutting windows,” Gieg said. “Hale graciously offered to laser cut walls, cut all those windows out for me, saving me time but more importantly keeping me from losing all faith in the project.”

Different aspects of the diorama include a bike shop, tobacco store, billboards, hotels, and restaurants. For the majority of the project, 60%, Gieg used kits that he would modify to fit the era and vibe. The other 40% of the diorama is built from scratch, he said. Some items even came from the real world, like sand for the beaches and drift wood for posts. 

“Not only do I want this to be historically accurate, but I also want to celebrate people that I love, friends and family,” Gieg said.

There are little honors to people in his life, like a newsstand for his journalist friend, a local theater to commemorate his mother’s love of community playhouses, and a photo of Gieg’s son is even snuck into a billboard for the Boston Bean Eaters. Gieg said he plans to have a boat for his father, who loved to sail.

“I love the design,” Gieg said. “It’s a fascinating design.”