Museums

[SiriusHardware]

I wonder when they will then start assembling their 1970s village?

Houses by William Leech, rectangular, low-slung (glasgow-school-style) teak (or teak effect) sideboards and dining tables, coloured phones, Ford Escort parked on the drive, a first generation colour TV in the lounge, Grundig Yacht-Boy on the kitchen window sill, an Ultra / HMV / Fidelity stereo record player or music centre with a 'smoked-glass' lid... I can't wait.

[Panrock]

Originally Posted by Ed_Dinning

The TV at Beamish looks very much like an Argus or similar from one of the PTV build your own designs.
A lot of these sets were donated when it was suggested that there may be a vintage TV shop, run along the grounds of the one in the Black Country museum, when their 1950's town is completed.

Ed

Maybe, but its tube looks bigger than a 6-inch VCR97/VCR517 and bears comparison with the 9-inch Pye to the right...

Steve

[Phil G4SPZ]

Originally Posted by Ed_Dinning

...a vintage TV shop, run along the grounds of the one in the Black Country museum...

To clarify things and prevent disappointment, there is not (yet) a TV shop at the Black Country Living Museum, although one is planned as part of the next phase of development there by around 2023. The new shop, Stanton’s, will be set in 1959-1960 and will stock musical instruments, sheet music, records and a wide range of TV sets, radios, record players, radiograms and tape recorders.

The Museum’s existing 1939 radio shop, Griptons, is still thriving however - bring your accumulators for charging! Only 3d...

[newlite4]

Over Easter I visited the Gordon Russell museum at Broadway in Worcestershire. In addition to the outstanding examples of stunning furniture there was a very good display of radios and TVs on the first floor. During the depression of the late 20's to early 30's when demand for furniture was reduced, Gordon and his team decided to make cabinets for Murphy Radio.

https://www.gordonrusselldesignmuseum.org/

Broadway is a fantastic place to visit, nestled as it is in a valley within the North Cotswolds, all in all a great day out.
Neil

[Refugee]

For pre valve era Victorian engineering it is hard to go wrong visiting North Mills in Belper.
Guided tours are standard and the fee is heavily subsidised as the mill race is now fitted with a turbine to provide income form the river Derwent.
Lots and lots of textile manufacturing equipment can be seen restored and working.

https://www.belpernorthmill.org.uk/

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by newlite4

Broadway is a fantastic place to visit, nestled as it is in a valley within the North Cotswolds, all in all a great day out.

...And since quite recently, Broadway is at the north eastern end of the (Heritage / Steam) Gloucestershire - Warwickshire Railway. I took a trip on it last July, although at that point the finishing touches were still being applied to Broadway station.

Also close by to Broadway is the NT's Snowshill Manor, whose owner packed it so full of interesting curios from around the world that he had to move himself out to the outbuildings.

[newlite4]

Yep, definitely, Snowshill is next on the list. Bear in mind when you are in that area there are some good antique centres in Moreton-in-Marsh with the occasional radio and related item.
Just makes it a complete day out .
Neil

[SiriusHardware]

Also in the same very local area - EH Hailes Abbey - the ruins are quite modest, although more naturalistic / romantic than most EH ruins because they are trying an experiment of allowing vegetation to grow on the walls.

The main reason to go is the recently built on-site museum which contains a lot of beautiful stone carvings which were originally in the higher-up parts of the building.

[Stuart R]

Back to Biggleswade, I'm not sure if these fit in with your timetable:

The RAF Signals Museum is very close at Henlow. http://www.rafsignalsmuseum.org.uk/index.html

Only open the 1st Saturday of the month, but Tuesdays by arrangement. You'll need to bring ID to get on site. "Our next public Open Day is on June 1st, 2019. Visitors may also come on a Tuesday but this must be pre-booked or entry will be denied."

If in Cambridge, I'm told the Computing Museum is very good but make time for the Cambridge Museum of Technology which is re-opening after refurbishment on 7th June. https://www.museumoftechnology.com/

It's on a nice Riverside location and used to have a small tea shop, steam pumping engines and a small printing workshop. A new building has just been completed housing a display of Pye equipment that was manufactured locally; scientific Instruments, domestic radio and TV, military and civil communication systems and some broadcast equipment.

Not much on the web about this yet:

https://twitter.com/CamTechMuseum gives a few pictures.

Regards,

SR

[Peter.N.]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

I wonder when they will then start assembling their 1970s village?

Houses by William Leech, rectangular, low-slung (glasgow-school-style) teak (or teak effect) sideboards and dining tables, coloured phones, Ford Escort parked on the drive, a first generation colour TV in the lounge, Grundig Yacht-Boy on the kitchen window sill, an Ultra / HMV / Fidelity stereo record player or music centre with a 'smoked-glass' lid... I can't wait.

Far too modern, I used to repair much of the stuff they have in the '50s warehouse. I'm looking forward to the '50s town, although the old town looks very much like I remember it as a child.

Peter

[SiriusHardware]

Stuart R, I have unfortunately only factored in enough time to visit the computer museums I mentioned in #70, which is a shame as the other ones you've flagged up (and which will remain to be found in this sticky thread) sound very interesting. Another occasion, perhaps.

Originally Posted by Peter N.

Far too modern, I used to repair much of the stuff they have in the '50s warehouse

Actually part of that scene I pictured - low profile Danish-inspired teak furniture - really started in the 1960s, although it may have remained popular into the 1970s. Certainly a lot of the 'old' transistorised radiograms I worked on in my first job in the early 1980s mirrored that furniture style.

If Beamish really did start up a 1970s area / era they would find themselves in the strange position of having to put themselves in their own museum, since (I believe) Beamish opened to the public in that decade.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Three weeks ago when in Broadway, I, too, visited the Gordon Russell Museum, and spent a bit of time studying the Murphy Radio display therein, partly because I have an A26 housed in one of G.R.'s cabinet designs, which, one day, I will repair/restore, just don't ask when?!

[newlite4]

Two weeks ago I visited the Bognor Regis Museum in West Street. Although quite a small museum, one room contains a large collection of TV Radio and ephemera including mechanical TV and a vibroplex morse key. Well worth a visit if you are in West Sussex.
Neil

[Tractionist]

I recently went to the Car Museum on Malta [April this year] and noted several vintage radios, TV's, and Radio/Record Player/TV consoles on display - all of which were nicely presented. The museum itself is excellent with very good audio/visual displays and visibility of the 'restoration areas' etc.

Will post some photos [of the radios/TV's etc.] if there's interest hereat .....

[donutty]

Originally Posted by M0FYA Andy

I recall a programme a few years ago featuring a vast private computer collection in, I think, the Leeds area. I don't know whether it is publicly accessible.
Does this ring any bells with anyone?

Andy

Hi Andy

Perhaps you are referring to the Jim Austin Computer Collection - at Fimber near Driffield in North Yorkshire ?

I have donated / sold quite a bit of gear to Jim and in the UK at least I know of no better or bigger collection. If you are ever in the Yorkshire Wolds I highly recommend that you arrange a visit.

Today I gave my instruction booklet (for my Hunter) containing the receipt of payment (well over £50 in 1976) to the Maidenhead Heritage Centre to display next to their Hacker Hunter. I have read it, time to let others do so.

[SiriusHardware]

I did eventually make my visit to Bletchley Park (both halves, the 'Codebreaking' part and the eerily separate 'National Museum Of Computing' with its working Bombe, 'Heath Robinson' and 'Colossus' replicas. If you have a thing for Enigma (and Lorenz) machines in particular, you won't know which way to look first.

Unfortunately my timing wan't great as, unbeknown to me my visit coincided with a 1940s event - very good it its own right, but it increased the visitor numbers to a level which made it difficult to give proper and considered attention to some sections of the Bletchley Park side in particular. But as they always say: A good excuse to go back again.

I also visited 'The Centre For Computing History' in its unassuming location in an industrial unit on the edge of Cambridge - this one was aimed much more squarely at people like me (and many others here) who were the among the first wave of home computer owners in the late seventies / early eighties, so that era is especially well represented and there are examples of virtually every mainstream and not so mainstream home computer and video game console, the vast majority accessable, turned on, and ready to start programming or playing on.

Both sites (Bletchley and Cambridge) get two thumbs up from me.

[MurphyNut]

Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ

A shameless 'plug' for the Black Country Living Museum, in particular the 1939 wireless shop Gripton's Radio Stores with its collection of over fifty pre-war radio sets in showroom condition and an operational workshop to the rear. Unique, I understand, in that visitors can actually watch as restoration work progresses on pre-war vintage sets, using authentic period tools and test gear, whilst listening to pre-war 78s reproduced on our 1936 HMV gram deck. The workshop is manned most Wednesdays (by me) and Thursdays (by my colleague Len). Valves tested, 3d each, and accumulators charged for 6d while-you-wait! But please be patient...

Just visited this and it's a real find, a great day out if like me you love to be immersed in the past.

[FStephenMasek]

Did you know that Radio Museum has received honors from the oldest university of modern times, the University of Bologna ("born" 1088), the Sigillum Magnum and from the Marconi foundation "Marconista del XXI secolo"?

Are you a member? It is free, with paper mail verification to prevent fraud. It is also supported by a foundation, so should be around long after all of us are gone.

Suggestions for new models or changes to existing models are vetted by two different volunteer administrators to help insure quality. That does not mean there are not errors, so suggested corrections with back-up information are always most welcome.

[chriswood1900]

A bit further away than the normal museums listed here, but well worth a visit if you are travelling to the West Coast US. Around San Francisco.
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View In the heart of Silicon Valley. A superb museum in good modern facilities covering the period from the early abacus through mechanical computing , early mainframes, mini and microcomputer up to today’s latest devices. A pleasant surprise was the amount of space devoted to early British computing with parts from early computers along with videos showing Tony Sale demonstrating the rebuilt Colossus. They have a working IBM 1401 and a PDP 1 in the demo labs usually working on Saturday. They also offer guided tours on different themes by volunteers who in the case of the two I did were both retired researchers or computer scientists from silicon valley. Whilst somewhere like this can occupy me for a whole day I would recommend at least 3-4 hours.

More info here https://www.computerhistory.org/
Chris