It seems like a while since I reported on any visits to other sites of transport interest, so here is a quick delve into some recent travels that might be of interest…

Below: Our new accessible bus will be restored by a company in Byfleet, Surrey, just a mile or so from the famous Brooklands racetrack – now the site of a museum.  Within the 2.75 mile circuit, famed for its banking (and more recently James May’s record Scalextric track around the whole route of the original circuit), are numerous functions, as much of the track has been breached in much the same way old town walls have been.  It is quite disconcerting to drive into Tescos, and be flanked by a section of the banked track!  Mercedes World is also based here, along with various racing/experience tracks.  The museum itself is centred on the original clubhouse, finish straight and garages.  Here is the clubhouse, which internally features games room and lounges for gentlemen and powder room for ladies.  Motor racing was once more of an upper class pursuit.

See: http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/ for more information on Brooklands and its collections.

Below: A test hill also features, used for performance (both up and down) testing.  It is steeper than it looks here.

Below: A section of the famous curved banking is situated within the museum grounds.  Again, much steeper than it looks here!

Below: One of the original restored garages, now used for the display of restored racing cars and motorcycles as well as telling teh story of some of those who used and worked on the circuit.

Below: Some less glamorous exhibits feature – including this RAC box, similar to the one we currently have under restoration at Beamish.

Below: Just some of the racing motorcycles and cars that are displayed at Brooklands.

Below: The museum also features numerous aircraft, as the site was used from an early stage in its history for flight training and also as the location of the Vickers aircraft factory – later producing aircraft through WW2 and into the post war period, including numerous airliners.  A large percentage of Concorde was build at Brooklands, and one example is displayed, along with one of the wonderful VC10 airliners (behind) – a type that still holds the record for sub-sonic flight between London and New York.  The VC10 was really the last of the ’empire’ types of airliner, designed for the commonwealth, eating up high altitude short runways and excelling in terms of its performance for such – the engines were mounted to the rear and high up from the ground to cope with arid and dusty conditions.  I once read of a VC10 pilot who’s colleagues that introduced the type to service had also flown the Empire flying boats, an amazing step in technological terms – such was the rate of aircraft development from the late 1920s to the 1950s.  I can thoroughly recommend a book ‘Empire of the Clouds’ by James Hamilton-Paterson for anyone interested in the early jet age and development (and huge failures to exploit the technical advantages held) of the post-war British aircraft industry.

Below: One of only two surviving Wellington bombers (and the only one which saw active service as a bomber) is displayed at Brooklands, restored to its skeletal state having been recovered from Loch Ness in the 1980s (I think I remember seeing it on Blue Peter?).

Below: Hawker Hurricanes were built at Brooklands, Z2389 seen here being recovered from Russia and restored for display at the museum.

Below: This Vickers Vimy is a famous replica, built to recreate the record flights of the original (which it carried out quite successfully) before retiring firstly to the airshow circuit then permanent display at Brooklands.  See more here: http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/explore/vickers-fb27-vimy-replica-nx71my-1994/

Below: The London Bus Preservation Trust is also based on the Brooklands site, occupying this large tent-like building which includes extensive exhibition and workshop space and adds up to quite an impressive display.

Below: The workshops – bright and modern!

Below: The display includes a linear development from horse buses (formerly the John Andrews collection, one of which was at Beamish for some years though is now at Brooklands) through to later motor buses.  Hanging dividers and walls incorporate images and text narrating the story.

Below: Restoration projects and a cinema bus also feature.  Most of the exhibits are operational and so the space is arranged to enable them to escape, with rides being offered around the Museum most days too.

Below: One of Mike Sutcliffe MBE’s famous Leylands is on loan to the museum, this one being the ‘Chocolate Express’.

Below: Interrupting the journey down the M1 at Leicester, I made my first visit to their Museum of Science and Technology at Abbey Pumping Station – seen here.

Below: The pumping station retains its original pumping engines, seen here, and in 2014 all four will operate together for the first time in the preservation era.  It is always hard to photograph large beam engines, incorporated into the building and vast in scale!

Below: I was lucky to meet one of the volunteers responsible for much of the restoration work of the museum’s transport collection, including the well-known ex Leicester AEC six wheel bus, one of the first buses to enter preservation.  This view is taken inside the transport store, which is not normally open except for events etc. so it is worth checking before you visit to see if a visit to this part of the collection is possible.

Below: As well as a Barford & Perkins A Series motor roller, I was very keen to see the museum’s 1911 Leyland X type Leicester Tramways tower wagon – a real jewel in the nation’s collections and still in fully operational condition.

Below: Given our plans to build a cinema at Beamish, this recreated projection room was of great interest!

Below: Outside, this Herbert Morris electric crane is displayed – incidentally we (Beamish) have just been given a superb Herbert Morris bound catalogue, some three inches thick and featuring a bewildering array of lifting apparatus, dating to 1933.

Below: The museum also houses this 52RB steam navvy, which awaits attention to its boiler and therefore the necessary funding.

Below: The pumping station had its own hand-worked narrow gauge railway system, parts of which have been restored as seen here, as well as expanded to include a new passenger carrying running line around the grounds of the works.

Below: Back to early May and a weeks holiday in South Wales – thus a chance to visit the Waterfront Museum which includes a number of industrial and transport exhibits, including the replica Penydarren locomotive.

Below: Nearby, a smaller building houses exhibits relating to the Swansea & Mumbles Railway and the electric tramways used in Swansea, including a replica horse drawn carriage, Swansea tram No.14 and the cab front from one of the legendary, enormous and much lamented in passing S&M tramcars.

Below: While in South Wales, I made my first visit to the Brecon Mountain Railway, recently extended and operating this very impressive 1930 built Baldwin 4-6-2 (rescued from South Africa) up some pretty impressive gradients.  Rain attended this visit too!

Below: The railway has its own small museum, with Quarry Hunslet ‘Sybil’, De-Winton ‘Pendyffryn’, ‘Redstone’ and a number of stationary engines, all in working order.

Below: The restoration of Pendyffryn was completed last year and the engine has steamed on a small number of occasions, with plans to run more regularly in the future.

Below: The railway’s workshops are superb and quite capable of heavy restoration work, such that they are now building new steam locomotives!  For more on this, see: http://www.breconmountainrailway.co.uk/the-workshop

Hopefully there will be more trips out and about in the offing as it is always good to see what others in the heritage sector are doing!