This model sheds light on what the iconic cruise ship QE2 could have been had ambitious plans to create the world’s biggest ocean liner gone ahead.

The scale model was the early proposal for an enormous £30m luxury superliner dubbed Q3, a forerunner to the world-famous QE2.

Long before the QE2 was launched in 1968, bosses at shipping line Cunard were planning a modern replacement for their existing ships Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

With a gross tonnage of 85,000, the proposed liner would have been the largest in the world, big enough to ferry more than 2,200 passengers across the Atlantic in style.

But the enterprising idea was sunk by the emergence of fast and affordable air travel,
which soon took over as the preferred method of getting to America.

After plans for Q3 were shelved, designers were instructed to come up with a ship that was smaller, faster and more versatile.

The result was the QE2, which was nearly half the size of Q3 and held 1,700 passengers. Despite this, it went on to become the world’s most famous and revered ocean liner.

The 44in wooden model of Q3 superliner was made by shipwrights John Brown and Company.

The 1:276 scale model of Q3 is tipped to fetch £3,000 when it goes under the hammer. It is being sold by an anonymous UK collector.

Charles Miller, auctioneer, said:  “It would have been an enormous ship, the biggest liner ever built at the time, and very lavish inside.

“This very model would be the one taken to the meeting of Cunard shareholders.

“It is unique – there is no other like it in existence.

“It is fascinating to think of what such a famous ship as the QE2 could have looked like had Cunard stuck to their original plans.”

QE2 was in service from 1968 to 2008 when she was sold to a consortium in Dubai to be turned into a floating hotel.

Earlier this month plans for a refit in Shanghai, China, were submitted and at the weekend the Daily Echo revealed artists’ impressions of plans to turn her into a floating hotel.

The Q3 model will be sold at Charles Miller auctioneers in London today.