Collection: Chasewater Railway Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Museum’s aims flow from those of the Chasewater Light Railway Museum Company which, as defined in its Memorandum of Association are:

  “To promote and to further the education of the public in the history of the railway and general transport heritage of the United Kingdom, with special reference to industrial and light railways and with special reference to the West Midlands area; by the creation and operation of museums of all types and, in furtherance of these objects but not otherwise, by the creation and operation of railways, tramways, or other forms of transport.

  Within a museum or museums to commemorate the Cannock Chase and Wolverhampton Railway and other such railways operating in the West Midlands area.”

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Railway owns a significant quantity of railway and railway-related artefacts and archives. In addition to items owned by the Railway, the collections also include a small number (approximately 1% of the items) on loan from various members and other individuals.

  The collections currently comprise the following:

  • Items on permanent or long-term display
  • Items on temporary or short-term display
  • Items in the Museum stores unsuitable for display
  • “Paper” items (accessed by prior arrangement only)
  • Individually donated collections of personal items
  • The Chasewater Light Railway & Museum Company archives.

  As at September 2023, the collections comprised 9,115 items, with 8,255 accessioned and 159 items on loan.

  Operational vintage locomotives and heritage rolling stock do not form part of the Railway’s museum collection. These items require continual maintenance and renewal of components to ensure their availability for the revenue-generating activities of the Railway in a manner which would be inconsistent with museum collection management principles.

  A large number of small artefacts and various archival materials are associated with many and varied aspects of railway operation throughout and after the industrial revolution. While certain artefacts have a particular association with or relevance to the railways of the Cannock Chase Coalfield, others do not but are nevertheless important in the wider context of railway heritage.

  The majority of the Railway’s artefacts and archives fall into one or more of the categories specified in the Memorandum of Association. However, the Memorandum is so drafted that virtually anything relating to railways falls, potentially, within the museum’s remit.

  Although the Memorandum makes no specific reference to a period of time to which the collection shall relate, the Railway’s Museum Management Committee has agreed that the collection shall focus on items covering the period from 1850 up to 1948, the year of Nationalisation of the Railways, together with the ensuing period of transition.

  The following list provides an indication of the types of items which form the greater part of the Railway’s collection:

  • Advertising signs
  • Uniform badges
  • Boundary signs
  • Bottles
  • Bricks
  • Buttons
  • Carriage destination boards
  • Cast iron signs
  • Clocks
  • Coats of Arms
  • Crockery
  • Framed pictures
  • Furniture
  • Guards’ Whistles
  • Jigsaws
  • Lamps
  • Locomotive nameplates
  • Locomotive whistles
  • Locomotive Works Plates
  • Maps
  • Mining/colliery items
  • Model locomotives
  • Model carriages & wagons
  • Pay tokens
  • Permanent way tools & equipment
  • Photographs
  • Signal box signs & equipment
  • Signalling equipment
  • Station signs
  • Stationery, incl. inkwells, pencils etc.
  • Stoves
  • Travel tickets, ticket punches

  The following main line railway companies are represented in the collection:

  • Barry Dock & Railways (BRY)
  • British Railways (BR)
  • Caledonian Rly (CR)
  • Cambrian Railway (Cam.)
  • Cannock Chase & W’ton Rly (CCWR)
  • Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC)
  • Ffestiniog Railway (Fest.)
  • Furness Railway (Fur)
  • Great Central Railway (GC)
  • Great Eastern Railway (GE)
  • Great Northern Railway (GN)
  • Glasgow & South Western Rly (GSW)
  • Great North of Scotland Railway (GNS)
  • Great Western Railway (GWR)
  • Highland Railway (HR)
  • Isle of Man Railway (IMR)
  • Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&Y)
  • London, Brighton & South Coast Rly (LB)
  • London, Midland & Scottish Rly (LMS)
  • London & North Eastern Rly (LNE)
  • London & North Western Rly (LNW)
  • London & South Western Rly (LSW)
  • Mersey Railway (Mer)
  • Metropolitan Railway (Met.)
  • Manchester Sth Jn & Altrincham Ry
  • Maryport & Carlisle Rly (M&C)
  • Midland Railway (Mid.)
  • North British Railway (NB)
  • North Eastern Railway (NE)
  • North Staffordshire Railway (NS)
  • Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (RE)
  • Sheffield & Midland Rly Cos Cttee
  • Somerset & Dorset Railway (SD)
  • South Eastern & Chatham (SE)
  • Southern Railway (SR)
  • Stratford-on-Avon & Midland Jn Ry (SMJ)
  • Taff Vale Railway (TV)
  • Talyllyn Railway (Tal)
  • Wirral Rly (WR)
  • Windsor & Ascot Ry (W&A)

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC