Artistic railwayman to open museum dedicated to railway horses

Picture of Roger Smith

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Artistic railwayman to open museum dedicated to railway horses

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Picture of Roger Smith

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Ian Cryer and his horse 'Winston' // Credit: Locomotive Services Group
Ian Cryer and his horse 'Winston' // Credit: Locomotive Services Group

An artist who is also a railwayman is to create a living museum celebrating the role of horses on the railway.

Artist Ian Cryer taught painting for 25 years before joining the railway in 2005, working as a mainline charter guard and relief shunter for EWS DB and Locomotive Services Group.

Ian now plans to establish a permanent home for his collection dedicated to the railway horse and cartage.

Ian has been collecting, restoring, and driving former railway horse-drawn vehicles since 1977, and travels around the country appearing at railway events.

His problem was always storage, which was solved when he and his wife Felicity purchased an ideal property that included land under an M5 viaduct next to the Great Western Railway (GWR) mainline in Somerset.

Ian’s collection includes vehicles, harnesses, uniforms, brasses and tokens, paperwork, brasses’ photographs, packaging, motor lorries, and Winston, his horse.

A replica 1900 GWR stable block being constructed will be the focal point of the collection, and will serve as a multi-purpose stable and road motor depot when required, but will also provide space for a gallery and studio.

Ian comments that it is always a struggle to find space on preserved lines, and this will be a unique and independent contribution to our railway history. Other features will be a fully-signalled horse-worked private siding, and a wagon works to maintain Ian’s ever-growing fleet of vehicles.

Many of Ian’s paintings feature the contemporary railway, and he intends to hold open days and group visits. For too long, he struggled without proper accommodation, but Meads Crossing is beyond his and Felicity’s dreams and is probably one of the biggest covered areas in preservation. They bought the run-down property eight years ago and turned it into their “Ideal Home 1937, but their attention is now turning to the railway.

Although there are many other museums connected with railway history, such as the new Power Hall at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum and Locomotion Museum at Shildon in County Durham, Ian’s museum is dedicated to the railway horse.

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