New railway museum for Hornby factory
PLANNING PERMISSION has been granted for the creation of a major new railway museum in the former Hornby factory.
The Margate site is already home to a growing collection of rolling stock since being acquired by Jeremy Hosking’s Locomotive Storage Ltd in 2017, initially as an undercover bolthole for out-of-ticket locomotives such as ‘A4’ Bittern and historically important carriages, including the newly restored LNER ‘Beavertail’ featured last issue.
Now the 130,000sq. ft site is to set to become a fully fledged visitor attraction in its own right. Endorsement for the museum from Thanet District Council in late January will enable full seven-daysa-week opening of the former warehouse building from spring 2025.
Haptic Architects will oversee the design layout of the One:One Collection museum, featuring a towering entrance hall complete with a re-creation of a station ticket office, auditorium and audio-visual displays; a mezzanine floor overlooking the ‘train hall’ filled with miniature live steam locomotives and full-size road vehicles; and a lower ground floor housing an assortment of model railways, Hornby merchandise shop, café and outdoor piazza.
A vast collection of railwayana and memorabilia from Hosking’s private collection, among others, will also be on show around the site.
There could be as many as 30 individual items of rolling stock on show; the core display will be rotated depending on operational requirements elsewhere. LSL director and One:One Collection co-founder Frank Martin told Steam Railway that there will be “some focus on Southern Region exhibits as time goes on”.
Additionally, Margate already houses some wheeled exhibits from outside the Hosking fold; namely the Swanage Railway’s Winston Churchill funeral van and Mid-Hants ‘Black Five’ No. 45379.
“The fundamental purpose… is to house exhibits from Jeremy’s collection, but there may well be vacant slots, so if a like-minded preservation society is looking for a home for an attractivelooking exhibit over three or five years, and if we can accommodate it then we will always try to do so.”
Visitor car parking will be located in part of the original factory building adjacent to the museum, where the existing Hornby Visitor Centre is located.
THERE COULD BE AS MANY AS 30 ITEMS OF ROLLING STOCK ON SHOW