Bekonscot.

Afternoon All,

I'm not sure whether the model village at Bekonscot comes under the 'heritage' banner, but it has been there since 1929 and depicts a slice of British life in the 1930s. What do others think? For those that are not familiar with Bekonscot, there are some pictures on my Flickr site that I took on a visit last Saturday. Here's the first one and clicking on it will enlarge it and take you to the others :


D7597. The Canal at Bekonscot. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Hope that they are of interest.

 

i can't see D7597, am I blind?

 

How odd. The picture is clear enough on my laptop and opens o.k. when I click on it. Is anyone else having problems?

 

ah...i forgot the smiley.... :dance:

 

Oh I see! You were confusing my photo reference number with the diesel-electric locomotive of the same name!

 

yes, maybe you arent up on these new fangled dieselmabobbles

 

That's right. I didn't take that much notice of diesels when they were first introduced so didn't immediately connect the reference numbers of my pictures with their diesel counterparts. I had to Google it to find out what a D7500 was!

 

If anyone is interested to have a look, I have now added some pictures of the Gauge 1 model railway at Bekonscot to my Flickr site. This is the first one and, as usual, clicking on it will enlarge it and take you to the others :


RD7623. 4-6-0 at Bekonscot. by Ron Fisher, on Flickr

Hope that they are of interest.

 

Bekonscot is absolutely heritage! (But then, I'm biased; I volunteered and worked there since the age of 11) - it's the oldest surviving model village in the world; a completely intact 85+ year old tourist attraction.

10 scale miles of railways set in the 1930s, some stock is original, others are freelance and many others are cracking scale models of real things (GWR railmotor, a pair of 94XX panniers, 2-BIL EMU...)

Driver's eye view here: Garden railway: 10 scale miles MASSIVE: Drivers Eye View of Bekonscot Model Railway - YouTube
Colour cine film of it in 1940s: 1949 Bekonscot Model Railway (colour) on Vimeo
And in the early 1930s: 1930s (colour) Bekonscot Model Village & Garden Railway on Vimeo

Most of the buildings and garden areas from the 30s are still there today. I defy anyone to say that it's not a heritage railway...

(Not to mention the 7.25" gauge railway that carries 75,000+ pax/yr, and the remains of the 2ft gauge line and wagons around the site that were used in construction after the nearby Great Central Railway, then used to deliver plants and ice creams to the cafe well into the 1930s)

 

PS - great photos Ron, and thanks for adding them to the Flickr group.

 

Glad you liked the pictures. There might be a few more in due course if time allows.

I used to be taken there when I was a child in the 1950s, and now I'm going there with my grandchildren! I used to think that it was magical then, and my grandchildren think that it is now. You should have seen my one year old grandson trying to get at the cakes in Alfred Kings' cakeshop window!!

Just one question: if Bekonscot is set in the 1930s, how come the garage has MoT signs on the facia?!

 

Good spot! I imagine for the same reason that the railway runs Mk1 coaches... although history is set, heritage is elastic. I don't think you can take these things *too* seriously. It was built as a plaything and something for joy, after all. Indeed until the 1980s, there were Comets and a Concorde on the airport runway. And of course modern image rolling stock. Perhaps those signs were missed in the retro-fitting exercise. I've passed your message on to the on-site team, though.

 

Well, I didn't like to mention the Mk.1s...