So, after our... disappointing visit to the National Capitalist Exploitation Of The Visiting Public Museum in York (sorry, 'Railway Museum'... Hells teeth, I hate that name and all the Ad Agency Re-Brand Baggage it carries with it), my faith in the museum was restored by a trip to Shildon the day after.
We hadn't planned this- we were going to Vectis Toy Auctions to pick up something for a future Hornby build, and then onto the Barbour Coat Outlet Place further north, because we have Middle Class aspirations, on a working class budget, and can only afford nice things like waxed jackets at outlet prices as a very occasional treat. On the way back, we wanted a brew and the loo (not in that order), and Shildon was pretty much on the way.
OK, so it trades under the name 'Locmotion' which is still a bit painfully 1980's Ad Agency Speak, but the place itself is superb. A downside being that, rather than being somewhere central like York, it's a bit out in the back o'beyond at Shildon. Historically significant for railways in general, yes, but the adjacent station is a bit Oh Mister Porter for train frequency.
This was what I wanted to see, because when you've the likes of "Flying Scotsman" outside, of course I'd be drawn instead to the 1980's unholy union of a Leyland National Bus and a freight wagon chassis. I really like the LEV railbus, and the design rationale of British Rail being told 'close that branch line, we only love cars' by the Government... and instead building this on the cheap to keep the lines open. So this isn't just a railbus, this is a statement. Two-fingers waved at Thatcher.
Expect a model soon; I've been planning one for a while, for the garden line.
Now here's a contrast and a half. The Port Carlisle Dandy (last horse-drawn railway service on the British Mainland) and the Birmingham Maglev. I've been to Port Carlisle (lovely place actually), but I've actually ridden the Maglev.
Back from that weird period when Birmingham was some odd, concrete vision of the future, and rocking Science Fiction technology. This linked the Airport to the NEC and International Station, and I remember my Dad taking me for a ride on this, just to say we'd done it, in what must have been the very late 1980's or start of the 1990's. Imagine an alternate world where we had these gliding around the city on concrete viaducts!
I think I'm in love. This gorgeous loco looks like it ought to be clockwork, made in Bavaria, and hideously, hideously expensive.
And now, for some arty close-ups. Simplex petrol tractor...
...NER snowplough...
...modern snowplough.
...wagons, various.
These were all in the new hall. I thought it a little odd, building a structure not in the least rail-connected to the rest of the site, but you know what? This works. And the stock inside looked good- all stored safely indoors, nothing getting rusted or rotten outside, but treasured, even humble freight wagons. This is what the National Collection should be.
Personal Opinion (rant) time again. Whereas the York site is the more prominent, and ought to be the more impressive, it's a retail and catering outlet with some inconveniently obstructive trains clogging up the place. Nothing is themed, nothing is looked after (oh the dusty locomotives) and it all looks so tired. That late-80's leisure centre roof is hideous, and each time I've been I've come away with the impression it's a railway museum that's slightly ashamed of itself. It's like the kid at school who likes trains but is terrified of being called a nerdy anorak. Me in the 1990's in other words.
By contrast, Shildon is me now- likes trains, and doesn't give a stuff what the cool kids say. This is a railway museum that -shock, horror- is stuffed FULL of trains. Yes, it has a shop, and yes, it has a cafe... both on the sides of the building, so the first thing you see are the locomotives, not the obstructing retail opportunities. There's a workshop and trains being restored, not hidden by hoardings but where you can SEE the work that needs to be done to make these iron monsters pristine. And things are properly laid out too, sensibly telling stories if you can be bothered to read the interpretation, or just assembled logically if you can't. A Sentinel diesel shunter stands at the head of a rake of period appropriate goods stock. The Lev Railbus is next to the APTE, both of them experimental prototypes from a time when BR was innovative and fighting for Government cash. Trains that need to be glossy and polished are, whilst if something is dirty or covered in graffiti, it's because it's telling the story of the battering it got in industry.
What's genuinely baffling is these are both parts of the same organisation. Shildon was opened because York needed somewhere to put all their trains. If you want to be charitable, to display and safely house all the stuff getting weathered in the open air outside. Or, if you want to be more cynical, dumped out of the way in a relatively obscure part of the North-East so all those sidings in central York could be sold for prime redevelopment. And yet- just like the LEV Railbus was made into the successful Pacer which kept dozens of lines and services open in the face of Government disinterest, so Shildon has been made into a brilliant museum, in spite of the neglect seemingly shown by the London end of the Science Museum Group (who not all that short a while ago said we could either have York, Bradford, or Manchester museums, but not all three... but it's ok, as there was no risk of little Tabatha, Tarquin, or Jocasta losing their trips with nanny to the London Science Museum).
Potentially litigation-attracting rant over. Not that anyone from the Science Museum Group will be reading this blog, I think there's only about 10 people ever look at this. Who even blogs anymore? Probably ought to start a podcast.
This is also getting done as a model, incidentally, he says desperately trying to drag things back on theme.
So this was the only other downside, really, and the creeping sense of potential being cut-back. Less obvious than with the way the York site is being cut about, but the demonstration line goes out to this beautifully restored (and surprisingly not graffiti-covered) goods shed. There's an impression this was developed as a station for a park and ride to the museum. Except... this end of the line is looking a bit 28 Years Later, overgrown rusty tracks and all. The car park was empty, but for skips full of rubbish, and the line blocked, if not completely severed. If that's because there's a footpath crossing that needs vols to operate it safely and it's easier to not run the line than sort it out (hello, Elescar Heritage Centre from 10 years ago who suffered the same fate!), or just to give a shorter more economic run, I don't know. Anyway, I photographed the hell out of it for the next Hornby article.
"Flying Cash Cow" was doing demonstration trains outside. Can't really see this as being value for money for the taxpayer, given the astonishing amount of cash it took to restore, but it was drawing the crowds as it pottered up and down.
Still, decent inspiration for this upcoming Hornby project.
Not exactly express loads. Anyway, this led to a final negative, though not Shildon's fault. Waiting for this ensemble to trundle past delayed us leaving, and we got stuck for an hour and a half on the motorway home after a few cars in front had an argument at 70mph.
So let's end on both a jollier note, and a model-related thing (on a model making blog, who'd have thought it).
Winning the prize of 'thing I want most from the museum' (yes, even above the LEV), this Hornby Dublo layout.
It's all gone a bit early-Grand Theft Auto. But this is direct inspiration for a model project that's planned to be underway early next year.
All this reminded me I have a ton of Dublo in a box in the cellar... might be time to make myself a proper train set, all metal and plastic trains clattering noisily about the place.
So that was Shildon, the Railway Museum's slightly upstart, yet somehow massively more endearing, little sibling. Who knows, maybe all the building work at the York site will result in a better experience in the future, but at the moment, I know which museum of the two I'd rather return to.
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