Brighton Toy and Model Museum

Brighton Toy and Model Museum (sometimes referred to as Brighton Toy Museum) is an independent toy museum situated in Brighton, East Sussex (registered charity no. 1001560). Its collection focuses on engineered models, and commercially produced toys that would have been available in UK toyshops up until the 1950s and 1960s. Founded in 1991, the museum holds over ten thousand toys and models, and occupies four thousand square feet of floor space within four of the early Victorian arches supporting the forecourt of Brighton railway station.

The exhibits include three large push-button operated model railway layouts (in 0- and 00-gauge), a range of exhibition-grade engineered models, large overhead radio-controlled aircraft (fixed-wing and helicopters), dollhouses, and mechanical coin-operated amusement arcade machines.

Manufacturers and brands represented include Anchor Blocks, Brickplayer, Britains Ltd., Bayko, Bing, Bassett-Lowke, Budgie Toys, Georges Carette, Corgi Toys, Dinky, Hornby Trains, Lotts Bricks, Märklin, Matchbox, Meccano, Mettoy, Minibrix, Minic Ships, Pelham Puppets, Primus Engineering, Rock & Graner, Signalling Equipment Limited, Steiff, Skybirds, Spot-On, Tri-ang (Lines Brothers) and Trix.

+It also includes individually engineered working models including a quarter-scale traction engine, steamroller and Spitfire fighter plane in the lobby. ^[1]

The museum occupies a set of Victorian brick arches that were built to support a station forecourt and a bridge over Trafalgar Street to connect the front of David Mocatta's 1841 station building with Queen's Road (1845), which had been created to provide easier access to the station than Trafalgar Street (whose slope could be difficult for horses to climb). The space was originally used to store beer barrels for a brewery, and three of the arches outside still show a red equilateral triangle, the registered trademark of Bass Brewery , the first trademark in the UK (Trademark 000001) . The current museum entrance held stalls for four dray horses (now museum offices and toilets) and a corn storage silo. The arches count as part of the larger station structure and are II* listed (entry 1380797) The structure is also one of a number of buildings in Brighton that are reputed to be haunted.^[2]

The space was acquired and renovated for the museum in 1990.

The museum's Founder-Director Chris Littledale had been a collector since he was a child, and had worked for an architecural modelmaking firm and as a consultant (model railways) for auctioneer Christies. This gave him a network of friends who were also serious collectors, and the group decided to look for a site that could be converted into a museum, based around Chris' 1930s model railway layout and collection, and supplemented by their further collections.

The derelict site was leased and overhauled in 1990, Chris' layout transplanted from his workshop at the British Engineerium, cabinetry installed, and the museum opened in 1991. ^[1][3]

The collections have continued to expand since, thanks to acquisitions and donations.

In 1994 it was decided to give the collections an additional level of security by placing them in a separate trust, the Littledale Brough Trust ("LBT"). The use of a separate trust ensures that the collection exists as a separate entity, and that should the museum ever close, the collection cannot be sold off and dispersed, but will persist until it finds another suitable home.

Entrance to the first arch of the museum, containing the foyer/shop area and the Brighton Visitor Information Point, is free. This area provides free maps and brochures, and has a small "stocking filler" toy shop used by visiting school trips, secondhand books, and a set of "Collector's Market" cabinets containing collectables that are sold on a commission basis.

It also contains the "Glamour of Brighton" exhibition, whose Brighton-related models and displays include the Brighton Pavilion, Magnus Volk's electric and seashore electric railways, the old Brighton locomotive works, and the Brighton Belle Pullman train.

The largest exhibits in the foyer are a quarter-scale coal-fired traction engine, a large motorised Meccano Ferris wheel, and an overhead quarter-scale radio-controlled Spitfire model aircraft.

The first arch also contains offices and construction and restoration workshops that are not open to the public.

The ticketed area of the museum fills the next three arches and contains a large 1930s 0 gauge model railway layout, 00 gauge model railway town and countryside layouts, and collections of model locomotives, soft toys, puppets and marionettes, construction toys, building construction sets, model ships, radio controlled model aircraft, and farm, circus, zoo and ship toy sets, and diecast models.

Exhibition displays draw on outside guest collections and on varying selections taken from the Museum's core collection.

The Brighton Toy and Model Index (ISSN 2399-1798) is an online encyclopedia on toys and models manufactured up until the end of the 1960s, maintained and updated by the museum. The "Index" runs on the MediaWiki platform, and as of 2025 has nearly ten thousand content pages and over twelve thousand images.^[4]

The Index contains entries for most of the museum exhbits, and can be accessed by visitors via museum screens, or on visitors' own devices via the museum's free wifi. Entries are cross-indexed by cabinet number, and cabinet entries can also be trigerred by QR code.

The museum is a venue for the Brighton Science Festival and the Brighton Fringe. Public train running days are typically held twice a year (Spring and Autumn), and the museum's Education section organises school visits with optional puppet shows and talks.

Temporary themed exhibitions usually coincide with an anniversary – 2012 exhibitions addressed the centenary of the launch and sinking of RMS Titanic (April to August), the centenary of the Leeds Model Company (September to October) the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Coronation Scot streamlined steam bullet-train (November to December).

As well as a carpentry workshop that produces the museum's cabinetry and displays, the museum also has a world-class toy repair and restoration workshop, with tinsmithing tools and its own sample library of parts and reference paint finishes.

The reference library is the centre of most of the historical research that takes place in the museum, and a source of material for the museum's online knowledgebase.

The museum became the first community rail partner to Brighton Station in March 2013.^[5]

In 2013, the museum announced a twinning with the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Istanbul.

A 2014 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund supported "Toys in the Community: Valuing memories of dolls, teddy bears and construction toys", a two-year community outreach and oral history project.^[6]

A 2012 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund helped the museum to coordinate, publicise and organise celebrations and events during 2013 to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Frank Hornby.^[7]

The grant funded an expansion of the Museum's online coverage of Meccano, Hornby trains and Dinky Toys, a public wifi access point, and the installation and ongoing development of a touchscreen information system to allow members of the public to retrieve information on exhibits from around the museum. ^[8]

In November 2005 the museum was awarded £1,594.70 of grant money from the Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex Museum Development Service's SEWS Museum Development Fund, to purchase computer equipment and create a database of specialist information about toys.

The museum launched a "Make History Fun" campaign in October 2005, with comedian and archaeologist Tony Robinson the campaign's patron.

Claire Eden was curator of the museum between September 2005 and December 2006, replacing Andrew Woodfield.

Local band Peggy Sue and the Pirates staged a short performance at the museum as part of the T Mobile phone network's The Great Escape Festival.

Tony Robinson's visit to the museum on 1 June 2007 achieved extensive BBC News coverage.^[9]

The planned return of the Art Deco Brighton Belle all-electric Pullman train was celebrated on 23 September 2010 with a street party and the unveiling of a full-sized mural of a Pullman carriage by the Chairman of the 'Railway Heritage Trust and Museum Patron Sir William McAlpine. Inside the museum, the "Glamour of Brighton" exhibition was opened by the Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Councillor Geoffrey Wells.

The mural depicts the Brighton Belle waiting to leave Brighton Station and extends for the full length of the museum. Laurence Olivier, a regular traveller on the train, is pictured at one of the carriage windows.

The museum celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016 with a special programme of events and a series of new exhibits, including an improved Meccano display and a new display of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century dollhouse miniatures.

The museum is usually closed on Mondays for maintenance work and cleaning, and for larger school visits that would be disruptive during normal public days. Its standard opening times are:

Admission to the shop area and information point is free. Admission to the museum area is ticketed and prices (from 1st May 2023) are:

Brighton Toy And Model Museum is an independent, non-profit organisation and a registered charity. The museum's Trustees are:

• Vic Michel - Chairman
• Chris Littledale - Director/Founder
• Neil Bennett - Secretary
• Hugo Marsh, Milan Simek, Anthony Capo-Bianco, Peter Bryant, Ray Child

The museum was featured in episode 2 of the Sky Atlantic series "Urban Secrets" (2012), in which Alan Cumming presented an unconventional view of Brighton.

• "Toy Museum Has A Brighter Outlook" from the Argus archives, first published Saturday 29 September 2001. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• "Happy Ending For Toy Story" from the Argus archives, first published Friday 5 November 2001. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• "A Feast Of Mini-Gigs" from the Argus archives, first published Tuesday 22 May 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• "Museum Background" Archived 5 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine from the Brighton Toy and Model Museum website. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
• Photogrammetry at Brighton Toy and Model Museum (August 2019) DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32030.89920