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Photos : Pendon Visit (1) >> Bucks Visit (1) and (2)

Society Annual Outing:  Sunday June 26th 2011, to Pendon Museum and the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton Road.

It was Sun all the way when 31 members and friends joined us as our Coach headed up the M4 for our 2011 day outing, on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year.
Our first destination was the Pendon Museum, situated in the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Long Wittenham, between Didcot and Abingdon, where the Society had a private viewing of the superb model landscapes created over the last 67 years.
Whilst model railways feature as a key part of the three displays at Pendon, this is much, much more than just a model railway. The museum was founded in 1954 by Roye England- a visionary who was concerned that much of the historic landscape and way of life he had know was rapidly changing with progress. He determined to try and capture the idyllic rural landscape and transport of the 1920’3 and 1930’s in miniature form, almost in a time capsule, for future generations to enjoy. His Vale scene portrays the Vale of the White Horse, as he saw it- the area from Oxfordshire towards Swindon, and individual buildings and features of interest were faithfully recorded, modeled and brought to life in the model landscape.
In addition to the Vale scene, John Ahern’s famous Madder Valley Railway dates from the 1930’s and is also in the Pendon museum. Influences here include steam locomotives from the Isle of Man and Welsh narrow gauge railways. The layout itself is now very fragile and thus only operated a few times each year.
The third scene, based on Dartmoor is the imaginary Porthkerrick Branch line of the GWR. Set amongst the Tors it is dominated by a stunning representation of a Brunel timber trestle viaduct, based on one originally at Walkham.
In all of these scenes, the attention to detail is superb, and the level of detail shown in capturing the scenery, buildings, people and their every day activities has to be seen to be believed. Our guides from the Pendon Trust explained the background stories to what was portrayed, and we could understand why one might visit the museum time and time again but each time spot a small detail or feature faithfully captured in the modeling, which we hadn’t noticed before. This was a very absorbing couple of hours, and we all marveled at the patience and dedication shown by those developing and conserving these exhibits.

On leaving the Museum we traveled on to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road.  It was in 1968 that the London Railway Preservation Society chose this as the venue for its fledgling site- then on a few weed-strewn tracks. Today the preservation site, split into two parts by the operational freight main line, covers nearly thirty acres and there was plenty to see in the time available.
The focal point for all the visitor facilities is in the Grade ll Listed former station building from Rewley Road, Oxford, which was dismantled from its original location and moved to the site in 1999, opening in 2002. A two road terminus building, it is used as an exhibition hall displaying Castle Class No 5080 Defiant, and Royal Train Coaches, whilst also providing a very light and airy setting for the café, shop, information office and entrance desk.
Around the site there is a loco shed, extensive museum and workshops, the restored Quainton Rd station, and a miniature railway. Preserved stock on site ranges from former London Underground Stock, a three-car Steam  Railcar built by Sentinel and Metro-Cammell for the Egyptian State Railway, and a massive steam loco built by North British for the South African Railway, and used to haul the famous Blue train - at 3’6’’ gauge.
With the departure of several Ivatt steam locos, there are at present few remaining BR locos on site- ex GWR Pannier tank 9466, and Beattie Well tank 30585 (which was running shuttle passenger train up and down the yard at regular intervals), plus Defiant (above), and dismantled Wightwick Hall and ex GWR 7200 under active restoration making up the tally. However, there are over thirty industrial locos at the centre, of all shapes and sizes! The site has certainly developed, helped by Heritage Lottery Grant funding in recent years.
The day was most enjoyable and our thanks go to Peter Carr for arranging another most interesting day out.

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