Nestling under the forecourt of Brighton railway station is the Brighton Toy and Model Museum.

It’s a wonderful mix of toys and models of trains, boats and planes.

Well worth a visit if you are a ‘big kid’ and I wanted to mention it on the blog. Apologies for the lighting in the photos. The models are in glass display cases (understandably!) and I couldn’t always avoid the reflections.

Near the entrance is a collection of early tinplate models.

There are some very early models, such as this Bing Midland Railway train from 1904.

Another delightful Bing loco, a clockwork Gauge 0 LSWR train from 1911.

I was rather taken by this live steam loco from 1912 – I wonder if this still runs?

From clockwork and steam power to electrics. Early Twin Trix Railway sets.

There’s a wide selection of Hornby models.

The museum has many sets still in their original boxes, such as this charming clockwork LMS set.

This lovely electric ‘Princess Elizabeth’ from 1938.

This beautifully painted French Pullman set really evokes a time gone by.

In the centre of the exhibition there’s a large O scale railway. It’s nicely detailed and has a huge range of stock.

The highlight of the line has to be this Maeklin Grand Station from 1925. What a beautiful model !

The museum has a collection of Triang Spot-On diecast models. These are rather unusual, being produced from 1959 to around 1967 in Belfast.

Spot-On often focussed on British cars and there’s a lovely line up of Austin-Healeys here.

There’s a huge collection of Corgi Toys on display.

Some of these models can still be found in second hand shops or flea markets but are often in a terrible state. Here they are in great condition and it’s a real pleasure to see the original packaging. The 1960s styling feels wonderfully retro now.

As a boy I owned these two tractors. I think they were thrown out during a house move years ago. I wish I’d kept them!

The museum has a wide range of aquatic models, if that floats your boat.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist a bad joke 🙂 )

There are numerous other scale models in the museum too. I liked this model of the passenger car of the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway that ran in the sea at Brighton.

Finally, the dream toy of my childhood would probably have been this Mamod steam car.

I wonder how much these go for on ebay these days ?!