GCR NRM (almost) £10 million lottery win

I suppose you could consider the disaster of The Millennium Dome? That was built in a bland area and didnt attract the projected number of annual visitors. Seems to me the reason for building it in this location, is because the GCR wants another item to add to its theme park and somehow solve its financial issues again.

 

Personally I've only visited STEAM when they have some sort of special event on: the regular entry fee is very pricy for the museum's content; whereas some of their special events are actually cheaper! It has a few gems (my favourite is the "this is our terms and conditions for carrying you illegally" sign from the Liskeard & Caradon Railway) but not enough to be worth paying for the full entry fee on a regular basis.

I'm not sure the volunteer manning the signalbox simulation liked me very much the last time I went: first I grumbled about parts of the move apparently being unsignalled, then I greatly confused the computer by working the box too fast for the simulation to keep up. Oops.

From what I've heard about NRM Leicester North it does seem to be inspired somewhat by existing projects like The Engine House and the Scottish Railway Museum Bo'ness. Like The Engine House and Locomotion (and the NRM Warehouse) it's a storage facility that can also fulfil an education role. Attaching it to an existing railway could also give it a readymade visitor stream, who would otherwise have no reason even to disembark at Leicester North. Like The Engine House on the SVR if done right it might improve the GCR's attraction to parents of young children - the Engine House is perfect in this regard, giving a break of journey with stuff to look at, space to play and run around, and pretty decent food, at about the 40min point in the journey.

 

I am not sure that the situations are comparable. I agree it is nice to break your journey at Highley, but the Engine House is free if you have an all line rover (and one might add that Highley is quite a nice spot to disembark anyway). I think the proposed Leicester North museum will be a separate organisation, but even if it were in the same organisation, it is not clear why the GCR would want to use some of its precious ticket revenue to fund the running costs of this project.

 

Sorry huochemi but i'm not sure that I agree with your logic.

My understanding is that the Leicester North Museum is an NRM outpost, therefore it is a separate organisation (so not a burden on the GCR ticket revenue) but will also be free entry as per York and Shildon. So its a win win for the GCR, a new destination for passengers with £0.00 outlay or running costs required.

Paul

 

That was what I was assuming also.

 

Based on your comments you are disagreeing with my assumptions rather than my logic. There are probably more authoritative sources than this but the attached press article contains a statement that the museum will be at no cost to the NRM.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/133...WILL_move_to_new_museum_in_Leicester/?ref=rss

 

The various articles do seem to be a little bit vague, I admit, about who will operate the site and whether GCR visitors would have to pay extra. Of course, it being early days, it's quite possible these things have not yet been set in stone.

 

If it were to be a true NRM outpost or even one were the NRM has a majority interest such as Shildon then it would come under the Science Museum Group. That being the case then admission would be free if it was open today. However, as far as I am aware the current government has given no commitment to continuing the coalition policy of free admission to national museums and collections. In fact, under the previous Conservative government charges were applied and I would be very surprised if they are not again especially with public finances being the way they are.

If the GCR has no involvement and thus no financial obligations visitors who have already paid for a travel ticket would find themselves being asked for another payment to visit the museum. This raises the broader issue that should visitors to heritage railways who have purchased a travel ticket be expected to pay again to visit museums along the line. Where this is the case now I suspect there are a lot of grumbles.

What is quite clear from Paul and other posters is that it is far from clear who the final owner of the museum will be and thus who is liable for any future financial shortfall. Surely this is buried somewhere in all the bunff that has been produced and if not should be something that local media and enthusiast magazine hacks have been delving into.

There is nothing really to suggest the NRM involvement goes further than loaning items from the National Collection to the new museum. That being the case the new museums gain will be other museums loss if the "Science Museum Group Plan 2015/16" is to be believed. This says that the NRM is looking to rationalise the number of partners it loans collection items to.

The devil is in the detail of the Leicester North project. Currently though there appears to be a lot of conflicting presumptions but few hard facts in the public domain.

 

Didn't The Engine House on the SVR start as an additional cost over and above a travel ticket, or is my memory playing tricks?

 

Yes, it did.

 

Maybe the "ownership" question is not as straight foreward as we think. If you look at the Q & A's on the GCR website you see the following: "The Great Central Railway, Leicester City Council, and the National Railway Museum are to create new railway museum in Leicester...." so this appears to be a joint project. Presumably Shildon was NRM/Science Museum in entirety.
Ownership apart, surely the winning situation for the GCR is that they will have an attraction at the southern end of the line, rather than passengers just making the return journey from Loughborough? I appreciate there is the café there already, but do many pax get off and spend time there, or even go into Leicester at present?

The NYMR surely saw an increase in passengers when they achieved Whitby as a "destination" rather than Grosmont, and presumably East Grinstead provides the Bluebell with an end of line destination.

I'm not sure how much promotion the SVR utilises to promote Bridgnorth town as an end of line destination, but certainly on a market day a trek over the footbridge and up the hill is worthwhile. Maybe the SVR are content to promote the intermediate stations along the valley, which in different ways all have their own charm, and of course there is the Engine House at Highley.

46118

 

So what is going on with the HLF grant situation, they were earmarked nearly £10M, but what do they have to do to get it, Where is the remaining match funding for the other £7m coming from exactly?

 

Any budding architects out there?

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/...er-railway-museum-design-team/8689751.article

David R

 

Small world! The architects that are working on this project are based on the floor below mine at work.
Great news for the railway and the NRM.
I know the design isn't finalised as yet but I can't help feeling that omitting a turntable from the plan is a missed opportunity, with the potential for a triangle at the Ruddington end of the line it would seemingly make sense to put a turning facility at the other end.

 

The 6 shortlisted designs for the new 'Main Line' museum at Leicester North have been revealed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-37552150

Not sure about Wilkinson Eyres and of course much can change between these ideas and the final design, but the rest appear to consciously echo traditional railway architecture alongside the more conventional glass and steel construction; given the model shown in this article at least two presumably involve a turntable.

 

What about....... a classic looking railway building rather than architects wanting to expand their portfolio.

 

I quite like the Hawkins Brown proposal - a modern half roundhouse. Should allow plenty of space between the larger exhibits for smaller items to "tell the story" as is the current best practice for museum displays.

Regards,

Dan

 

Because all buildings have to look like a Tesco superstore or a crap office building these days to be contemporary and cutting edge!
See the proposal for the new WHR station at Caernarfon for further evidence......

Didn't the GCR acquire a load of materials from a former steam shed that could somehow be cobbled together to at least provide an in keeping, pleasant looking facade?

Chris