Derby Museum Midland Railway model

[peach james]

My view of it is that it would be far better to just have a new engine built- there is no special historical importance to her, and the sectioning probably provides far better education (even if she returned to the UK) than trying to make her whole again. 

 

 

I didn't take any of the sectioned side, as I have some idea what the inside of a steam engine looks like...with cad projects like this one :  

 

 

having taken a little time of mine .

 

At any rate, moving a large built in layout around in a museum should not be insurmountable, but I would fear that the hats of rectums who are in charge will "forget" to allow for funds for professionals to do so.  One of the offers from OSC to Toronto Society of Model Engineers in the early 1980's was to have our track built in the ravine (which is an amazing space), at their cost- with TSME then running x days/year.  Unfortunately, x days would have been from one or two individuals...as very few of the rest of the club are active enough to take up the slack.  Out here on this coast, BC Society of Model Engineers has managed to do so, using engines built/bought for the job, and hiring in the operating staff (university kids) for the summer time.  They sort of loose money on the operation (basically, it breaks even on staffing, but looses on wear and tear).  

 

James

[John_Miles]

  Unfortunately, just like at Ontario Science Centre, or other museums like it that i have been to, it seems like there is less interest in technologically obsolete items.

 

This comment is pretty close to the mark, Museums these days have to provide interactive stuff for kids and at the moment the Silk Museum is running  events for kids where they come in and make things. It's flavour of the month and it has played a large part in getting the money for the refurbishment.

[relaxinghobby]

The model railway at the Derby Silk Mill industrial museum is to be packed up and put into store whilst major decorating and improvements are made to

the mill buildings.

 

The last running session will be on the 5th of November 2016.

[John_Miles]

Does this mean the layout is to the mothballed or moved? If the latter, I fear the worst.

[Andy Y]

My understanding too is that it will be removed to storage whilst major building work is carried out to the upper floors before reinstatement when work is complete.

[pete_mcfarlane]

I'm left wondering how they'll break it up in to chunks to move it (very carefully with a diamond wire cutter?).

[Dava]

There is a team of modellers who have supported this layout for many years, including Ken Sheale of the G0G, my concern is that those skills may not be around when the museum refurb is finished. However it's good that the museum is pulling in 'young makers' in its innovative events programme during the refurb.

 

Dava

[Phil Traxson]

I'm afraid that it is not good news. Over the past few years I have been supplying castings to patterns supplied by the (very small number of) people working on the layout. Over that time the people in charge of the museum have changed several times and the number of volunteers has fallen.

 

The folks in charge, not all of whom have apparently actually seen it, seem to think of it as a "train set" which can be dismantled and moved at a whim.  It isn't and it cannot, it is not in sections and is built in to the space allotted. Already the curves are tight in the storage area but the new space to be allotted is to be smaller.

 

I saw one of the volunteers a couple of weeks ago and it appears that the last few have given up the struggle and walked out.

 

I feel that unless some sort of high powered protest is made that the whole thing will be scrapped, but on our present council's record of ignoring the people who they represent on far more important matters I don't hold out much hope. 

 

Phil T.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Not good news Phil.

 

Does any of the original Kirtley (late 1940s/early 1950s model) survive?

[John_Miles]

Well this is very sad. I'll try and get some protests going via the Midland Railway Society.

[pete_mcfarlane]

In my mind the only poor decision here was the one to build a layout in a way that means it can't easily be moved. That shows a spectacular lack of foresight, given that it's in a building several hundred years old which is inevitably going to need major building work at some point. So I'm not sure if having a go at the current museum management is really going to achieve anything - it sounds like they've been left with a very nasty decision to make. 

[Phil Traxson]

Not good news Phil.

 

Does any of the original Kirtley (late 1940s/early 1950s model) survive?

I believe the loco's and rolling stock had been removed but little or nothing else survived the breaking up of the layout by unsympathetic staff.

 

I'm afraid the present model may well go the same way, and a high percentage of the buildings are very accurate replicas of real buildings although in a fictional setting. Just an example, a water tank made up of separate and correct, cast resin replicas of cast iron panels. Without going to the workshop and counting them there are at least seven or eight different size panels, top right & left, bottom right & left etc. and the rest of it was the same standard.

 

Phil T.   

[Phil Traxson]

In my mind the only poor decision here was the one to build a layout in a way that means it can't easily be moved. That shows a spectacular lack of foresight, given that it's in a building several hundred years old which is inevitably going to need major building work at some point. So I'm not sure if having a go at the current museum management is really going to achieve anything - it sounds like they've been left with a very nasty decision to make. 

The refurb of the building itself is done.

 

It was designated originally as the Derby Silk Mill Industrial Museum but that all changed a few years ago when almost all its exhibits, except the model railway, were either returned to their owners, such as Rolls Royce Aero or scrapped under a manager whose previous record of unfinished ,hair brained schemes was only discovered after the damage was done.

The present management are doing well with ideas for the lower floor but apart from the railway the upper floors are now about empty or used for storage so they have an almost blank canvas. For some reason we're not being told, they want to move the model up a storey and make it smaller. As I noted above I am told the curves are pretty much on minimum radius now, so making it smaller is not really an option.

 

Phil T.

[pete_mcfarlane]

The story from the council a couple of years back was that there was a major programme of asbestos removal and general refurbishment needed, with the ground floor done and the rest programmed for late 2016/7. Has that now changed?

 

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/pound-16m-revamp-derby-s-silk-set-bring-120-000/story-26533959-detail/story.html

 

They seem to release information on the project infrequently, so it's hard to find out what's going on at the moment. 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

The last time I was there, there was a BT10 bogie outside the entrance and an 0-4-0ST (ex Celanese at Spondon?) mounted on a piece of track.

Sounds like they've gone too, judging by the above comments.

[relaxinghobby]

The bogie is still in the yard outside but the loco has gone, maybe for restoration somewhere.

 

Watching the layout last Saturday during the MIni-Maker Fair event held at the museum, that's a sort of craft skills meets

home science and electronics DIY festival.

 

The operating team were runnung the layout, I think they said it is a modular layout, there are obvious baseboard joins in

the scenery.

[£1.38]

I think the Celanese loco went to Swanwick - see http://www.flickriver.com/photos/dc-7c/6840931616/

[kevinlms]

The refurb of the building itself is done.

 

It was designated originally as the Derby Silk Mill Industrial Museum but that all changed a few years ago when almost all its exhibits, except the model railway, were either returned to their owners, such as Rolls Royce Aero or scrapped under a manager whose previous record of unfinished ,hair brained schemes was only discovered after the damage was done.

The present management are doing well with ideas for the lower floor but apart from the railway the upper floors are now about empty or used for storage so they have an almost blank canvas. For some reason we're not being told, they want to move the model up a storey and make it smaller. As I noted above I am told the curves are pretty much on minimum radius now, so making it smaller is not really an option.

 

Phil T.

Sounds like the best option might be to salvage what can be & build a new layout from scratch. Making the layout small enough to prevent it working or making it look ridiculous is just pointless.

[John_Miles]

I believe that the refurb done so far is just asbestos removal and tarting up the ground floor, including providing a cafe. There is now a lottery funded remodelling of the building which will include the upper floors. The Midland Railway Study Centre either has been or is about to be closed and its contents moved offsite. From memory there is £15 million to be spent on the building. I was involved in all this until a couple of years ago when I resigned as chair of the Roy Burrows' Trust.

[Penlan]

I didn't know that John (Chair ) - and you model one of their very minor lines.....  

 

Hopefully the 42,000 + items will remain as a collection during the moves etc., 
The Roy Burrows' Collection merged with The Midland Railway Trust in Feb. 2016.

 

I still have my Guide Book (somewhere) to the Layout when it was in Derby Museum, around 1959 I think.

A photo of the layout is also featured on the front cover of the Manchester MRS Exhibition guide for 1969.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Penlan

[Peter Kazmierczak]

It was also "Railway of the Month" in the Modeller way back when.....

[andyram]

I had an interesting chat this evening with a fellow model railway club member and they paint a different picture. There is a farewell event on November 5th which will also feature some visiting layout. After that the layout will be dismantled and put into storage. However, providing the museum remains open, it should re-emerge in a larger space in two to three years time with the prospect of the layout being made bigger, not smaller. Two club members are apparently a part of the group looking after the layout.

[pete_mcfarlane]

Here's the blurb for the event on the 5th: http://www.derbymuseums.org/events/model-railway-celebration/#.WBH78fnR_4Y

 

 

 

See the model railway in action for the final time before its return in the new Museum of Making in 2020

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Hum, the 5th November for the layouts final outing.

 

Now what happens to bits of wood/card etc on the evening of 5th Nov?

[Jub45565]

I visited the Midland Railway Study Centre in August (to look at Ilkley shed drawings), and while there had a look at the layout.  While not a model of any particular location, it is an excellent typical Midland Railway station, and all of the buildings do have their own prototypes somewhere.

 

In my opinion it is well worth seeing, as is the study centre as a whole. Hopefully they'll come back bigger and better equiped after the refurb!