The Chorleywood Museum Project

Our Mission is to provide an informative and educational resource linked to the national curriculum for local people and visitors of all ages. Our aim is to enhance the understanding of the history of the railway passing through Chorleywood and how it impacted upon the development of the village and its surroundings.

Our Vision is to open the facility to the public on at least 6 weekends including bank holidays throughout the year, and to accept special prearranged visiting parties most likely from local schools. Staffing the facility will be by volunteers who are Friends of Chorleywood Signal Box.

The Project

The museum will have safe access from the station platform. It will be housed over two floors, the upper cabin and the lower Interlocking Room. The former will contain interesting displays in relation to the Mission above. The Interlocking Room will contain a working model in OO gauge of the station and goods yard set in the early 1950s. Rather than a phased approach, the aim is to open to the public when both upper and lower floors are refurbished and the content developed to a demonstrable degree in 2022.

The cabin will house on the walls and new free standing stands, displays of captioned photos, railway maps and posters. Also succinct bullet descriptions of interesting historical facts that include the operational details of the line and the development of Chorleywood itself, with additional links to appropriate websites. There will be pictures and articles in folders on stand-alone lecterns; videos and loop rotating stills to be shown on a TV monitor; a bookshelf of books of local interest to browse; artefacts of railway memorabilia including appropriate models displayed in glass fronted cabinets or on shelves or tables.

The Interlocking Room will house the operational railway, possibly built off-line and conveyed to the building and installed on horizontal boards around the side walls of the area. Underneath the model, items for future display will be stored behind screens, so that displays in the cabin can be changed to represent different themes either annually or for special events.

Stewards will restrict the number of visitors to each floor to 10 at a time. Short talks of interest as outlined in the mission above, will be given by specialist Friends of Chorleywood Signal box. Seating will be provided for this. An illustrated booklet describing both what is displayed in the museum and its historical background will be on sale to visitors for approximately £5.

Successful Outcomes

The project success will be gauged by the number of visits from schools and the public, the results from the documented feedback responses and the sales of the special booklet referred to above.