New model ship museum proposed

[wsnowdon]

I have just come across a bit of fascinating news for all ship
modelers. It is well known that the british national museums have a
large hidden collection of ship models awaiting restoration or
display. The National Maritime Museum, Science museum, Imperial War
museum have in excess of 5000 YES five thousand ship models scattered
around various warehouses to which the public have no access. It has
been proposed that a new museum in the form of a warehouse at the
Chatham dockyard Museum be used to house all of these models to which
the public will have access to view all of them. It is to be in the
old smithery building in the dockyard and will be open to the public
in 2006! How many are paddlers? The mind boggles! Now THAT will be
worth a weeks holiday! Cheerio, Walter

[Dallinson]

Walter
Model ship museum. Fantastic news!!
The mind does indeed boggle, just think if each model took up just a yard
of shelf space, it will need around a mile of shelving!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a show!!!
All the best, and roll on 2006.
David

[Paulrjordan]

Thank you for the heads up on this one, Walter...it's great news and
what an attraction this will be. Everyone loves model ships! Do you
know who is behind the venture? Website? contacts?

5,000 models! yep the mind DOES boggle...I wonder what paddlers they
have?

Do please keep us updated when you hear more, Walter.

PJ
Victoria, BC. Canada

[Leighton]

Walter/David,
I agree, it would even be worth travelling from NZ to have a look at
all those models.
How did you come by the info? Is there any way we can voice our
pleasure to the right sources to show our support for the venture?
Or as usual, am I two jumps behind that this has already been
arranged?
Leighton

[Alistair Deayton]

There are a number of ship models in the Warehouse section of the National
Maritime museum at York, mostly ex-Southern railway, although there are a
few paddlers there. That is the storage area now open to the public.

Alistair Deayton

[Paulrjordan]

OMG, Alistair, forgive me if I nearly fell off my chair when you said
"mostly ex-Southern railway". Andy Saunders and the folks down at
the Newhaven Maritime Museum would be really pleased to know more.
Southern Railway "Paris III" is, of course, one of my three pet
paddler research projects.

In all honesty I didnt realize there is a National Maritime Museum at
York although I'm familiar with the Railway Museum there. Is this
part of it? I cannot find a website for this, so any further help
would be appreciated.

Do we maybe have a Paddleduck (lurker or otherwise) who lives within
range of York who could go on an exploratory and obtain a list of the
paddler models there? A repository of Southern Railway Cross-Channel
Paddler models is cause for great excitement on this keyboard...as is
a repository of ANY paddler models!

Thanks for the info, Alistair.

PJ
Victoria, BC, Canada

[Alistair Deayton]

The paddle steamer models are MARY BEATRICE, ROSE and SHANKLIN. I was at the
NRM in November and took notes of all the ship models.

Alistair

[wsnowdon]

Hi Leighton, I found the news of this museum from a press release
from theUKMCS ( united kingdom maritime collections strategy) via The
Science Museum web site while searching for details of a model they
have. Its amazing what snippets you can find while looking for
something else! Walter.

[wsnowdon]

Hi Alistair, are you refering to the storage hall in the National
RAILWAY museum?. I have been there several times and photographed all
the models they have, but I have not heard of a Maritime museum
facility in York.(I only livr forty miles from York and go there at
least once a month). Could you clarify otherwise I shall hot-foot it
to York in the morning and tear the city down in my search!!! Walter

[Paulrjordan]

Wow! Walterrrrr!!!!

I didn't realize you were so close to York..I thought you and Eddy
were much further up North! Could you be our point man there and see
what you can find out ? A list of their paddler models with
Owner/operator reference would be so useful. It would be really
exciting to have another "find" of UK Railway Paddler models to
compliment the collections in Scotland.

Now for the next question..I wonder if they have plans too ?

My last "find" was an original set of Profiles and GA drawings for
the Southern Railway paddlers "Rouen/Paris III" located in the bowels
of the Science Museum Library in Kensington!..and then, thanks to
Andy Saunders of the Newhaven Maritime Museum, a huge 1:48 ORIGINAL
Southern Railway half model of "Paris III" sitting in a corner of a
tiny Museum shed at the Bluebell Railway in Sussex.

A long term project of mine (aka "dream") is to develop a list of
Museum paddler models throughout the UK and eventually worldwide. I
believe Paddleucks with it's worldwide membership could well be the
vehicle for achieving this.

Please update us as you get news.

PJ
Victoria, BC. Canada

[Alistair Deayton]

Sorry, I meant Railway Museum. a slip of the fingers and a case of "do not
compose messages on the keyboard when the brain is in neutral!"