Blog

New Video For Off The Rails

Museum Manager Dave Armitage gives you a guided tour and explanation of our new exciting Exhibition Off The Rails.
Just so you know what to expect and wet your appetite. Check it out HERE

Off The Rails - Fridge Magnets

Just arrived! Some super Fridge Magnets featuring the roundels for Tube Stations that were never built on the Elstree Extension - Brockley Hill, Elstree South and Bushey Heath.

Not forgetting the two Stations that might have existed had the alternative line been built - Moat Mount and Borehamwood East.

Full details in our current Exhibition - 'Off The Rails - The Line That Never Was'. Come and find out more. The Magnets are £2 each in the Museum and £3.50 from this website including postage.

Off The Rails - Special Visitor

L to R : Tony Beard, who wrote the book,
Tony de Swarte, who made the model,
Dave Armitage, who runs the Museum and organised the Exhibition

Last Saturday we welcomed a special visitor to our new Exhibition. No less than Tony Beard who wrote the book from which we gained much inspiration, if not most of the information. It was good to meet him at last and get his 'approval' for all our hard work. He sent us a newly discovered aerial photo just as we were finalising the panels, and we added it to great effect.

Can you spot the entrance to the Elstree Tunnel in the photo above?

Tony has written many books on transport, and his latest is Steering London Through: London's Road Services in the Second World War
the story of the London Bus during the War. Unfortunately By Tube Beyond Edgware is no longer available, so you'll just have to visit our
Exhibition to learn the full story.

Tony explains the location of the tunnel to yours truly

Off The Rails : Crowds and Reviews

Off The Rails - The Line That Never Was

Crowds and Reviews

We've only been open a couple of weeks but we are crowded out every day - even though it doesn't take many to crowd us out we are having very busy days every day. We all love a model train, and we all love a slice of local history that is often a rumour, but now can be seen for real.

Check out the rave review from The Londonist here.  Complete with photos and train whistles, well maybe not the latter. And another fine review from IanVisits here. 

Don't delay, check us out soon.

Off The Rails : Open Today

Our new Exhibition exploring the Elstree Extension through the Northern Heights that was suspended during World War 2, and never restarted, opens today.
Our photos can only give a glimpse of the Exhibition.
Come and see the scale model of the Tube line and how it would have looked if it had been completed.
And the trains are running!

OffTheRails- Work-In-Progress Part Three

Only three days left to complete the Exhibition. Will it be finished in time?
The Panels are up and the Model is coming along :

Off The Rails : Work-In-Progress : Part Two

The model is now joined up, but not yet running.  With 5 days to go, let's hope it all comes together.
Progress report on Monday after the display panels arrive.

New Year, New Exhibition - Work-In-Progress Part One

New Year, New Exhibition - Work-In-Progress Part One

The empty Museum on Monday before the build starts

Let's start the New Year with a New Exhibition - Off The Rails : The Line That Never Was. The full story of the Elstree Extension to the Tube that was stopped by the Second World War, nearly resumed afterwards but cancelled by the end of the 1940s. And we have an 18-foot model of the line as it would have been. The Exhibition opens on Thursday 20th January and here's the start of the work as the model arrives :

Tony starts work assembling his model on Tuesday.

Object of the Week : X is for Exhibitions

Whilst the Museum is closed and our collections unable to be seen by visitors, we have created a weekly virtual museum with an Object of the Week feature from our collections.

Object of the Week : X is for Exhibitions

With the Museum set to re-open in September, we thought it would be a good time to look back at all the exhibitions we have presented since opening in November 2013.  A trip down memory lane.

November 2013 the Museum opened with Through the Lens a visual ‘now and then’ journey through stills of  Borehamwood locations which had been used in film and TV.

June 2014 heralded 100 years of Film and TV in the area since Neptune Studios arrived in the village in 1914.

September 2014 told us we Could do Better! A celebration of 75 years of Hillside School.

January 2015 commemorated 100 years since the end of WWI.

Then in the summer of 2015 In Our Manor opened, celebrating 30 years since EastEnders began filming just down the road. With the added feature of being able to see the ‘Bridge Street’ railway bridge on the set from the upper floor windows!

January 2016 opened with Smile Please – a history of photography, in particular Wellington and Ward in Borehamwood.

July 2016 the volunteers built a replica of Mary Hanson’s sweet shop as part of the Going Down the Shops exhibition, which looked at the changing face of Shenley Road.

January 2017 saw the opening of From Village to Town, Celebrating a Century of Migration, an ambitious project eighteen months in the making, focusing on the radical transformation of Elstree and Borehamwood over a century, and the people whose arrival here made this happen. Fifty residents were interviewed and their stories formed part of the exhibition, and are available on this website under 'Oral History'.

The exhibition which ran over Christmas 2017 was Toys Games and Gadgets, a fun look at childhood pastimes from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Another ambitious exhibition was All Change! which opened in January 2018 and by public demand, extended its run to September.  The Museum was transformed into a railway station complete with steam engine!

This was followed by Save Our Studios, a display with much input from Paul Welsh who led the campaign to save Elstree Film Studios between 1988 and 1996.

We were launched into the Swinging Sixties in May 2019 with Good Vibrations which recreated the local youth club and music venue The Lynx. Original artwork and designs from The Lynx evoked the atmosphere of the time, complete with video footage of the famous bands that played there.

Which brings us up to date.  October 2019, actor Bob Barrett opened the Holby City at 20 exhibition, which celebrated 20 years of the drama being made down the road at BBC Elstree.  More poignant now due to the recent announcement that the show will be cancelled and off our screens by Spring 2022.  Covid cut through the exhibition just 3 months into its run, but with the Museum re-opening again in September, it will continue until the end of the year, so that everyone gets a chance to visit.

Holby City At 20 Still Operating

Our current Exhibition is still packing them in. Running until April 25th you have lots of time to dress up as a nurse or a doctor, and have a go on our body! Here is super fan Claire performing open heart surgery!  All operations are free, as is our Museum. We have small 'staff cards' of your favourite actors to take away - for a small donation.