Last month I gave you an update on the model railway and what has been happening with it since it was last seen publicly in 2015. Visiting it in storage was a great opportunity to gain insights into how it works, and how it will fit into the story the Museum of Making is endeavouring to tell. As the model in its disassembled form rubs shoulders with artefacts and documents from the museum collection, work on it by the dedicated team of staff and volunteers has had to be rather piecemeal thus far. Hence, with renovation work on the Museum of Making progressing rapidly, they’ve been itching to get the railway moved back into the Silk Mill building, so greater headway can be made towards final assembly.
With the finished layout expected to be more than 15 metres long and 7 meters wide in overall dimensions, I went along on February 21st to see just how big of a job moving all the pieces would be.
Jeff Mander and Peter Collins assess the space prior to the arrival of the model railway
Upon arriving at 10am, I caught up with project lead on the model railway Jeff Mander, and Head of Curatorship and Curator of Making Peter Collins, as they began scoping out the space on the second floor the model railway will inhabit. They went on to survey the route that boxes, boards, and other items would need to be navigated through. This would involve entering through the workshop on one side of the building and ending up where they were needed on the other side. At this stage, the only way for people to move between floors were tight U-shaped flights of stairs, this would necessitate some large heavier elements remaining temporarily on the ground floor until the installation of one of the lifts. As advanced as work is, the Silk Mill is still an active building site, meaning everyone going into it for the move would have to wear appropriate personal protection equipment.
Part of the path cleared through the museum ready for the move
At the storage facility used by Derby Museums, the rest of the team had been painstakingly packaging the model railway and were now loading it into the first of a handful of lorry and van loads headed towards the Silk Mill. The first of these loads arrived at around 11am accompanied by around half a dozen museum staff and volunteers. With the complexity of the move, every item would have a written identity attached to it to help avoid any component going missing. These corresponded to several labels around the room on the second floor so that components could be found again easily and unpackaged in the most common-sense order.
Top: One of many labelled boxes holding some of the thousands of small parts the model needs. Bottom: Halfway there – The first lorry load’s boards awaiting arrival into the Silk Mill
Over the course of the day, this load and a further two were carefully unloaded and transferred to where they were needed. At various points, the Derby Museums team discussed matters with the site’s construction firm Speller Metcalfe, and the removal company B.E. Webbe; and a representative from the museum workshop (which impressively was able to keep operating throughout the day). I was cheered to see how constructively everyone cooperated, each lending a hand at various points to help make the move as efficient as possible.
Top: Two volunteers delicately move one of the more fragile boxes into the building. Bottom: A minor stumbling block averted as the group in the workshop help the team clear space for a larger item
Some of the most recognisable parts of the railway layout, and the last to leave the vans were the scenery sections, the large pieces that will be put together and will form the landscape trains will travel through. Their fragile nature meant these had to have specially constructed shelves built around them to enable their safe transportation. It was a little surreal to see these jigsaw pieces outside of their normal context as they crept around the building. Also interesting was seeing how many similarities there are between them and the products the workshop is making for the museum fit-out. An early indication of how these two areas will mesh and help each other along in future.
Scenery sections are steadily walked out of the lorry and wait their turn to be moved up into their new home
There were so many parts to the model railway in fact, that despite the mammoth amount of work I saw undertaken during the move
on that day, the rest would have to being taken care of on a subsequent day. Even project leader Jeff, who has been living and breathing this project for months, was surprised at just how much there is when spread out properly. I too can’t wait to see the Museum of Making team piece the model railway together over the next few months.
Top: The underside of one of the track boards, showing the complex wiring needed for each section. Bottom: The heavier structural sections in their temporary place on the ground floor
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