Christopher Kirby chose….

a toy train set

The wonderful thing about museums is their ability to collect and display objects from a distant and sometimes alien past alongside items that are more recent, and, consequently, more familiar. This clockwork train belongs to the latter and conjures up an enjoyable childhood where toys like this took me into my own imaginary land.  The construction of this model, however, also indicates a bygone age before the widespread use of plastic and microchip technology, the main ingredients of many modern toys.

Christopher Kirby is the Herbert's Head of Collections and Programmes

What the curator says:

Hornby clockwork trainset, 1920s, collected in 1963

Children have played with toy trains for as long as there have been railways. The first proper train sets, with track sections, rolling stock and accessories which could be added to, appeared in the 1890s.

Frank Hornby invented Meccano and then developed the Hornby system of model and toy trains. The first Hornby clockwork locomotive went on sale in 1920. Hornby became one of the most successful systems in the world.

This set belonged to Diane Nelson, who was born in 1917. It was bought from a toy shop on Hertford Street in Coventry. The locomotive is painted in the green colour of the London and North Eastern Railway, which means it dates from after 1923.