Behind the scenes at the working railway museum preparing for better days
AS Mangapps Railway Museum prepares for what it hopes will be a busy and successful summer after the travails of enforced shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, owner John Jolly has told Heritage Railway of the work that has gone on behind the scenes during the past two years, and the decisions that needed to be made against a background of shifting rules and requirements.
The working museum in rural Essex, near Burnham-on-Crouch, reopened for the spring bank holiday weekend at the end of May after lengthy deliberations by 77-year-old John and his wife June.
“Reopening our doors is normally a simple procedure which we have been doing for more than 30 years, but in these strange times it became complicated,” he said.
“Should we take bookings only, or should we advertise and risk being overwhelmed? Will we have enough staff and stewards? How much cleaning and disinfecting should we be doing, and is it worth running steam? How long before we're locked down again? And even – is it worth all the hassle?”
The answer to the last question was basically a no-brainer. Yes, the couple decided, it was certainly worth the hassle; welcoming families and enthusiasts to their visitor attraction was the reason they developed the site into what it is today.
And developed it certainly has; John unveiled a £1 million project two years ago that has turned the museum into a major player on the preservation scene, and expanded one of the finest and most-varied privately-owned railwayana collections in the country.
New extensions
A three-road 150ft-long carriage shed, a five-road 80ft extension to the museum, and a 60ft extension to the museum's locomotive shed were constructed, and the layout to the site's ¾-mile standard gauge line was altered to allow more frequent trains for visitors.
“Basically, over the past two years we have more than doubled the covered space, an achievement in itself because we already had considerably more than most railway visitor attractions, except a few of the big boys,” said John.
“We can now accommodate all our locos and most of our vulnerable and historically significant rolling stock under cover, which helps to preserve them.”
He points with pride to Halesworth signalbox from the Ipswich to Lowestoft line which Mangapps saved from imminent collapse and is now a magnet for visitors.
“We were especially delighted to save this ex-GER 'box and restore its interior to exactly as it was in the 1980s, as the original idea of what has become Mangapps was hatched during visits when it was in service prior to its closure in 1986,” he said.
John and June plan to open on weekends and Wednesdays in July until the start of the school summer holidays towards the end of the month, and thereafter every day until September, when they will revert to weekends and Wednesdays.
Large fleet
The museum's fleet comprises BR diesels Class 31 Nos. 31105 (exD5523) and 31233 (D5660), Class 47 No. 47579 James Nightall G.C. (D1778), five Class 03 shunters and a Class 04, four industrial steam locomotives, three industrial diesels, and a selection of former BR multiple units and London Transport Tube stock, as well as more than 80 carriages and goods wagons.