Brighton Toy and Model Museum preserves childhood memories

Brighton Toy and Model Museum founder Chris Littledale sits at the desk in his workshop at the museum. A restored model ship is on his desk. Littledale still works six days a week restoring toys. Photo by Andy Coughlan

The entrance to the Brighton Toy and Model Museum in the arches under Brighton Train Station. Photo by Trish Coughlan

BRIGHTON, England — At the top of Trafalgar Street, a steep hilly street lined with vintage, bohemian shops, is an overpass that leads to the entrance for Brighton train station. But below the overpass, tucked inside a series of Victorian-era arches, another set of trains are consistently running and always on time.

The Brighton Toy and Model Museum opened in 1991, the brainchild of Chris Littledale, and houses 12,000 items ranging from its signature train sets to marionettes, toy cars, dolls and more.

The building dates to 1841 after the completion of the London to Brighton train line and was the original entrance to the station. Trafalgar Street was too steep for horse-drawn carriages and the current bridge extending Queens Road to the station entrance was built.

The entrance to the museum is small and tucked away as it is, one could easily miss the treasures inside. The jewel in the museum’s crown is the rare vintage O-gauge train layout, which takes pride of place in the center, built by Littledale, the museum founder and director.

An O-gauge train set is the centerpiece of the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Littledale said the museum grew from his passion for collecting old model trains and toys, mainly trains going back to the 1950s — “It gives my age away a bit,” he said. — and never stopped.

An old photo of Chris Littledale at his home prior to opening the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Courtesy photo

“I learned to repair them, restore them, make parts, and all sorts of things,” he said.

Littledale pointed at an old black-and-white photo of himself in front of floor-to-ceiling shelves packed to the brim with model trains.

“That’s my home — it still looks like that, actually,” he said with a shrug.

General manager Jan Etches said the joke around the museum is that Littledale emptied the trains out into the museum and then he filled in all the spaces.

“I just had so much,” Littledale said. “It’s crazy, crazy, but it’s unique.”

A visit to the museum is a nostalgia trip to one’s childhood. Display cases are full of Corgi or Dinky model cars, the equivalent of Matchbox in America. A plethora of stuffed bears and dolls from around the world fill every nook and cranny. The cards offer histories of the various companies. The beauty of the museum is that it is obviously a labor of love. There is something distinctly personal about the way the objects are displayed.

A marionette display at the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Photo by Andy Coughlan

A popular toy from my childhood was Meccano, the British equivalent of the American Erector Set. They were different companies, but Meccano did have an offshoot in New York. Littledale said American companies tended to make their own versions of European toys.

“I mean, the Germans made trains for America (and) America promptly produced a gauge that wasn’t compatible, which is Lionel,” he said. “They called it the ‘standard of the world,’ and they had a gauge a little bit smaller than the stuff that was coming from Germany.”

Littledale said he has never lost his passion for restoring the trains and toys and still works six days a week. When I visited, he was working on a model boat, but he always returns to his main love, his trains.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum founder Chris Littledale winds the piano in a Rock and Graner living room set from the 1870s. Photo by Andy Coughlan

In a box on the counter of his workshop, off the museum’s gift shop, sits a complete drawing room doll set from the 1870s by the German manufacturer Rock and Graner. The set is made of tin except for the furniture seat covers, and the piano plays.

The oldest object in the museum is a silver and coral baby’s teether from the 1700s.

Etches said the museum attracts around 15,000 visitors a year, but that number is increasing. The museum is a registered charity.

“We get no public funding, no money from the council or the government, and our front-of-house staff are volunteers,” she said. “We couldn’t open the doors without them.”

A model zeppelin flies over a giant working train set at the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Photo by Andy Coughlan

The museum is also raising funds for the Trafalgar Street Regeneration Project. Prior to the museum opening in 1991, the Victorian arches were boarded up and derelict. The regeneration project aims to restore them to the style of the 1930s.

“We are actually trying to raise funds to improve the front of the museum, which will also improve the underpass for Brighton, and visitors to this (North Laine) area, North Laine residents and traders,” Etches said. “There might be somebody who reads your article that decides that we’re a good cause and they might have a bit of money. We never know.”

A variety of stuffed bears are part of the collection of the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Photo by Andy Coughlan

Brighton is located only 50 minutes from London by train. The town is worth a visit and the Brighton Toy and Model Museum is mere steps from the train and well worth a visit.

For more information, visit brightontoymuseum.co.uk.

This story first ran in the Aug. 6, 2023 Art of Living section of The Beaumont Enterprise.

These Pelham Puppets are part of the collection of the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Photo by Andy Coughlan