Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Fry Model Railway Museum to close permanently!

Options
12346

Comments

  • Options
    #152
    steamengine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭steamengine


    A few months back this press release was issued. Mentions a new purpose built museum in the grounds of the old thatched house.

    link


  • Options
    #153
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    steamengine wrote: »
    A few months back this press release was issued. Mentions a new purpose built museum in the grounds of the old thatched house.

    link

    I see more about it here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0428/1224315296664.html but it's strange how nobody in the modelling fraternity seems to know anything about it. What happened to the nonsensical suggestion of putting it in Busaras?

    Whatever now happens it would need to be a much improved operation than that formerly run by Dublin Tourism at Malahide Castle.


  • Options
    #154
    Sheldrake
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭Sheldrake


    Friends
    We have commissioned a feasibility study from an expert in the world of finance on the future prospects of the Malahide project. It makes for interesting reading, and is accompanied by actual projected revenue and expense streams. I won't post those for obvious reasons, but they are available to serious players if required.

    The executive summary is hereunder:

    1. During 22 years at Malahide Castle, the museum was not viable as a stand-alone operation. Direct income exceeded direct expenses but a notional net loss was incurred after absorbing cost of administrative support from Dublin Tourism and 7/24 security provided by Fingal Council.

    2. Casino site is not fit for purpose. Existing building is entirely unsuitable. A minimum 10,000 sq ft new building will be needed to house static museum and working railway, and to satisfy health & safety. Grounds are too small to provide adequate car and coach parking, plus complementary landscaping. Access problems from busy main road. Existing traffic congestion in nearby Malahide village.

    3. Facility will constitute a radical change of use for location, implying community resistance. Planning/ NIMBY-type objections may result in costly delays during pre-commissioning phase.

    4. Assuming project commences first quarter 2013 and there is no undue delay, commissioning would be unlikely before 2016. Capital cost estimated at € 2.3 million. Delay beyond 2016 will result in escalating holding costs.

    5. Gaffney bequest to fund Casino project is €1.5 million. Opening by end 2016 will incur a minimum capital shortfall of €800,000.

    6. For income projections, a target figure of 75,000 visitors pa has been projected. Note this is believed to be 3/ 4 times average annual numbers in years 1988-2010. Projections include a discount factor to recognise customer resistance at higher ticket price levels.

    7. Projected operating budget shows annual trading losses of € 330,000 to 400,000. Note that this result may be impervious to additional promotional support ie increased advertising cost would offset increased revenue implying market saturation.

    Circulate at will.


  • Options
    #155
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    So, on the basis of your figures the project is a no-hoper?


  • Options
    #156
    Sheldrake
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭Sheldrake


    I'm afraid so. Unfortunately, the Minster, acting on local pressure from concerned citizens in Malahide, decided to make a non-viable decision without full knowledge. Fingal County Council, which evicted the layout and collection in the first place, is now in a position where they have been once again given the collection and layout, but have admitted they have no expertise in the matter. They have not approached any experts, and are not in a position, for financial reasons, to go ahead with the project. Michael Gaffney's bequest, generous as it is, is insufficient for the purchase of the Casino, refurbishment, building a new building for the layout, renewal of the layout and preservation of the actual Fry Collection - which has been designated as a 'National Asset'. So there you have it. Please circulate!
    Regards.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #157
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    Quelle surprise.


  • Options
    #158
    Losty Dublin
    Registered Users Posts: 13,000 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Sheldrake wrote: »
    I'm afraid so. Unfortunately, the Minster, acting on local pressure from concerned citizens in Malahide, decided to make a non-viable decision without full knowledge. Fingal County Council, which evicted the layout and collection in the first place, is now in a position where they have been once again given the collection and layout, but have admitted they have no expertise in the matter. They have not approached any experts, and are not in a position, for financial reasons, to go ahead with the project. Michael Gaffney's bequest, generous as it is, is insufficient for the purchase of the Casino, refurbishment, building a new building for the layout, renewal of the layout and preservation of the actual Fry Collection - which has been designated as a 'National Asset'. So there you have it. Please circulate!
    Regards.

    Interesting figure, Sheldrake. They beg another interesting question, have you a vested interest in the project? I ask only to ascertain your personal position regards same.


  • Options
    #159
    AlekSmart
    Registered Users Posts: 14,005 ✭✭✭✭AlekSmart


    With the amount of empty,long-term vacant,cobwebbed commercial space vacant in and around Dublin City Centre I remain bamboozled that this important and improvable collection is once again endangered.

    Even locating the entire collection in Sandyford's Beacon Centre would nicely complement the Imaginosity Childrens Museum (http://www.imaginosity.ie/).

    Within this location is a veritable barren tundra of abandoned,unfinished or otherwise unused space,all of which could house the Fry System.

    Here we have something which is Unique and highly marketable,in the right hands,and all we can do is hmmm and hawww before waffling about how great Legoland is....:o

    Is this country's entire administrative system comprised of eejits or what ?
    (Although,having experience of the revised,revised,new Improved Traffic Management arrangements within Sandyford Estate I really don't actually need to pose that question).


    Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

    Charles Mackay (1812-1889)



  • Options
    #160
    Run_to_da_hills
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    AlekSmart wrote: »
    With the amount of empty,long-term vacant,cobwebbed commercial space vacant in and around Dublin City Centre I remain bamboozled that this important and improvable collection is once again endangered.

    Even locating the entire collection in Sandyford's Beacon Centre would nicely complement the Imaginosity Childrens Museum (http://www.imaginosity.ie/).

    Within this location is a veritable barren tundra of abandoned,unfinished or otherwise unused space,all of which could house the Fry System.

    Here we have something which is Unique and highly marketable,in the right hands,and all we can do is hmmm and hawww before waffling about how great Legoland is....:o

    Is this country's entire administrative system comprised of eejits or what ?
    (Although,having experience of the revised,revised,new Improved Traffic Management arrangements within Sandyford Estate I really don't actually need to pose that question).

    Alternatively they could build a large barn and relocate it to Moyasta along with the rest of our national railway heritage.


  • Options
    #161
    Tabnabs
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,695 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tabnabs


    What happened to the offer by Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company to house it in their expansive and rather underutilised ferry terminal? Or DLRCoCo who seem to like model rail if the annual exhibition in their atrium is anything to go by (and very enjoyable!)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #162
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    Tabnabs wrote: »
    What happened to the offer by Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company to house it in their expansive and rather underutilised ferry terminal? Or DLRCoCo who seem to like model rail if the annual exhibition in their atrium is anything to go by (and very enjoyable!)

    I'm open to correction here, but I think that terminal building has been removed since? I'm pretty sure the concrete built terminal is gone, maybe the trainshed is still there?

    If the 'concerned citizens' of Malahide want the railway in their locality that badly, why don't they put their money where their mouth is?


  • Options
    #163
    Tarabuses
    Registered Users Posts: 724 ✭✭✭Tarabuses


    Wasn't there talk of it locating to Busaras?


  • Options
    #164
    Losty Dublin
    Registered Users Posts: 13,000 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    gobnaitolunacy wrote: »
    I'm open to correction here, but I think that terminal building has been removed since? I'm pretty sure the concrete built terminal is gone, maybe the trainshed is still there?

    If the 'concerned citizens' of Malahide want the railway in their locality that badly, why don't they put their money where their mouth is?

    The trainshed on the Carlisle pier was knocked down a few years ago. It wouldn't have been suitable as it was not wholly enclosed and access was via the National Yacht Club's boatyard. The proposal by the Dun Laoghaire harbour would have effectively written off their terminal to passenger boats so it too was not very practical.

    If it's worth anything, the basement of Busaras is quite expansive and it would be reasonably easy for refitting as required. That's not to say there isn't better buildings for it but for now it seems to be the only location mooted for it that is readily available.


  • Options
    #165
    steamengine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭steamengine


    The Fry Collection saga once again points up the lack of a proper transport museum and preservation facility in the southern part of this island. Preservation generally is just a series of hotch-potch efforts all over the shop. Take the case of the Mark 3's - going to the scrap heap currently, if someone wanted to preserve a few, where could they put them - under a tarpaulin in a field somewhere ?

    What's needed is a proper transport museum, with a reasonable amount of track then everything can be preserved permanently and properly. The Fry collection reminds me of Joseph and Mary wandering around Bethlehem looking for somewhere to put their baby Jesus and all that's on offer is a hay barn - if even that. It's a national disgrace !!!


  • Options
    #166
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,833 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Somehow I thought the complaining and arguing over this had gone on well after 2013; but old threads get bounced here a lot :pac:

    Photos up on Twitter of the external renovation work to Malahide Casino, where this will eventually be reopening in a few months

    https://twitter.com/LoveFingalDub/status/1207028719963004929

    http://www.enjoymalahide.com/home/all-about-malahide/casino-model-railway-museum/


  • Options
    #167
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Illustrated thread here: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/7849-new-fry-model-railway/


    It's is a shadow of the original and 00 gauge rather than Fry's 0 gauge and the rebuild by Tommy Tighe. While the layout is impressive by model railway exhibition standards it's a pretty poor effort by Fingal Co.Council or whoever is behind the project.

    ****



  • Options
    #168
    Pete_Cavan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,733 ✭✭✭Pete_Cavan


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    Illustrated thread here: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/7849-new-fry-model-railway/


    It's is a shadow of the original and 00 gauge rather than Fry's 0 gauge and the rebuild by Tommy Tighe. While the layout is impressive by model railway exhibition standards it's a pretty poor effort by Fingal Co.Council or whoever is behind the project.

    I don't get this post. If it is a model railway exhibition and you state that it is "impressive by model railway exhibition standards", by what standards are you judging it to claim it is a "poor effort"?

    Anyway, it would have been great if it could have been housing in the old station house at Malahide station, would have been more appropriate.


  • Options
    #169
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,822 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    The point of the Fry was all of it was O gauge. Fry worked in O, not OO, so there was something of a continuity from Fry's original with the Castle layout.

    I'm guessing it had to be OO to be shoehorned into a smaller area. I don't doubt the amount of work that's gone into the latest iteration but there's something about that massive O layout that doesn't have the same impact in the smaller scale. It's disappointing but hey it's just any old train will do to those in officialdom and Dublin Tourism.


  • Options
    #170
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Pete_Cavan wrote: »
    I don't get this post. If it is a model railway exhibition and you state that it is "impressive by model railway exhibition standards", by what standards are you judging it to claim it is a "poor effort"?

    Anyway, it would have been great if it could have been housing in the old station house at Malahide station, would have been more appropriate.




    An exhibition as in a model railway exhibition such as those run by the SDMRC or the MRSI - not a museum standard exhibition. Do I take it from your comment that you never visited the original Fry Model Railway Museum? While it was far from perfect, it was impressive and quite unlike anything that you would see at a club run model exhibition.



    ****



  • Options
    #171
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Another video below about the closure of the original museum which has had just 527 views since it was put up in 2011.


    ****



  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #172
    AlekSmart
    Registered Users Posts: 14,005 ✭✭✭✭AlekSmart


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    Another video below about the closure of the original museum which has had just 527 views since it was put up in 2011.



    It's over 40 years since I first encountered Tommy Tighe deep within the bowels of Inchicore Railway Works.

    His enthusiasm and passion for the intricacy of model railway layouts was quite mystifying to this young apprentice,but now I look back in wonder at the achievements he and a relatively small band of co-conspirators made.

    It is a sad reflection on a Country which has traded on it's love of Tradition,Creativity,and appreciation of the past,that it could'nt manage to take this fantastic raw material and make something of it.

    Even now,State Owned properties such as Mulvany's Broadstone Station or even Kingsbridge itself,offer viable locations for a Transport Heritage Centre,which could offer visitors and locals alike a totally unique insight into our past.

    Why,one wonders,is modern Ireland so bereft of the creativity,as opposed to the destruction,which now appears to have become Irelands byword ?


    Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

    Charles Mackay (1812-1889)



  • Options
    #173
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,822 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Official Ireland and Failte Ireland loves the past, but it's a past of the well worn tourist trail favourites; mystical "Celticism", some Viking bits thrown in, Bunratty Castle faux Medieval feasts and centre stage the Revolutionary Era as they call it now.

    It's as if there's no such thing as transport or industrial heritage, as if there's a presumption that people aren't interested.


  • Options
    #174
    Joker2019
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 114 ✭✭Joker2019


    Riddiculous that it was closed. As a Southsider I remember making the journey there by DART as a child to go and se the model railway as a family day out. I remember hearing about the closure and thinking a renovated Malahide Castle is not going to attract someone to Malahide but a model railway museum will.


  • Options
    #175
    Atlantic Dawn
    Registered Users Posts: 81,338 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn
    M


    Joe Duffy will be very happy so to speak, model choo choo trains are back.


  • Options
    #176
    GM228
    Registered Users Posts: 8,925 ✭✭✭GM228


    Probably mentioned somewhere in the thread, but what happened to the original stock and assets?


  • Options
    #177
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,822 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    GM228 wrote: »
    Probably mentioned somewhere in the thread, but what happened to the original stock and assets?

    Only the stuff actually built by Fry himself will be on static display. The rest; the stock that used run at the Castle, buildings, track etc all in storage for the foreseeable future.

    So that's all that will be there, the actual Fry stock in glass cases, some memorabilia and a new build OO layout.
    That's it.


  • Options
    #178
    MrAbyss
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 426 ✭✭MrAbyss


    The old museum at Malahide castle was run by **** who were very rude to the public and if you took out a camera you were practically arrested. I was delighted that they all lost their jobs.

    As for the old layout itself, the fact it looked like a giant trainset was the appeal! So did Cyril Fry's home layout. You got see so much running.

    I will go to see the new OO layout and once his rolling stock is on display that is good. But still...


  • Options
    #179
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    I wasn't glad to see anybody lose their job in the closure of the original museum. I have to say that apart from the manager, John Dunne, the people operating the layout were distinctly unwelcoming. However, Tom Tighe was a gentleman and it's a pity to see his work stored/binned.

    ****



  • Options
    #180
    MrAbyss
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 426 ✭✭MrAbyss


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    I wasn't glad to see anybody lose their job in the closure of the original museum. I have to say that apart from the manager, John Dunne, the people operating the layout were distinctly unwelcoming.

    So basically they should have been allowed to remain on the job even though their belligerent and unprofessional treatment of the general public - ensuring no one would return - was a factor in its closure? I went twice. Once for myself and once with a model train fan from the USA who wanted to see Mr Fry's models in action and both times the staff were utter twats. Never went again.

    You must be a semi-state union type right?


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #181
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,822 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    It definitely wasn't child friendly.
    I'm surprised anyone could take decent photos there it was so dark.


Advertisement