Archive Milestone
We have just passed the four thousand figure for the number of drawings scanned. The significance of this statistic is that prior to the purchase of the scanner, we were paying 50p per copy to have them scanned (this was very cheap). The scanner cost £2,000 (paid for by the grant from the MLA), so in effect the scanner has now recouped the initial investment.
We are now concentrating on scanning the BMMO collection (which came out of the railway carriages), as these are most likely to be useful for BaMMOT vehicles. Some of these drawings are in an appalling condition, having been stored in a damp cellar at Carlyle Road works. These are sorted into scannable, and unscannable. Those which cannot be scanned are being catalogued by Andrew Turner, and those that have been scanned are to be catalogued by Nigel Hall. Once catalogued it should be possible to search the computer for a topic e.g. D9 cab layout, and access that particular drawing. Whilst four thousand drawings may seem a large number to have scanned, this is but a small part of BaMMOT's collection.
John Rollings
Visitor Research
Further analysis of the recent visitor questionnaires reveals that the Museum attracts numbers of families from Birmingham and Worcestershire but not many from Solihull and Warwickshire, which are similar distances away. This indicates that we need to direct more press releases and advertising to those areas and, perhaps, to the Black Country too, as that is largely within one hour's drive of Wythall.
Malcolm Keeley
For comparison, 43% of BaMMOT members have Birmingham postcode addresses, while 9% have Leicester addresses. - Editor
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
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