Nailsea and Distict MRC : Pendon Museum

The party arrived at Pendon Museum in the early afternoon, and whilst some took advantage of the small eating/rest area, others could not wait to see the exhibits.

Amongst the fixed exhibits, was the “Madder Valley” model railway. This was constructed by John Ahern, and dates back to the 1930’s. Although it is on permanent display, it is only operated on a few days each year, due to its very fragile nature, and this, unfortunately, was not one of those days. Nevertheless, it is a very interesting relic, which pioneered the art of scenic craftsmanship.

The “Dartmoor” layout is now 50 years old. It is a basic OO gauge oval with single and double lines, a through-station, and features Guy Williams model of a Brunel timber viaduct. The extensive storage area lies at the back of the layout, behind one of Dartmoor’s tors.

Visitors were presented with a live commentary from one of the Pendon experts , describing the layout, and the trains running around. During this year, many different locos are being run, and so some are not prototypical to the location. But this did not distract from the brilliance of the layout. Scenes were shown, in bright sunlight, and at dusk, to demonstrate the station and carriage lighting. I’m sure that many of us could have spent the whole time on this layout alone.

On the upper floor is the “Vale of the White Horse” layout. The main feature of this layout is the scenic work of the higher area, above the tunnel. Here could be seen many traditional thatched cottages, houses, and other buildings, which have been modeled by various people, and all are excellent examples. Regrettably my photos did not do them justice.

The layout is over 70 feet long, and, probably about 40 feet wide, and is enclosed within a glass covered area. Once again, lighting can be adjusted to reproduce various times of the day. The layout has areas which are being worked on, so the layout is always changing. One criticism was the few number of trains running, perhaps trying to simulate the real railway timetable.

In a side room were some excellent model exhibits. In particular, was a church where, the stained-glass windows were simply breathtaking. Internal Items were so well modeled that they were displayed separately. Models this good almost could make the ‘average’ modeller give up in despair!