Pullman Car side mockup, Doris (5BEL)

2016: "Bringing Back the Brighton Belle". The 5BEL Trust's publicity stand, being inspected by a Dalek, at Brighton Modelworld 2016. For this year, the car's windows were populated by reproduced sections of Terry Smith's Trafalgar Street Brighton Belle mural. [image info]

Being renovated in the museum workshops [image info]

2015: Setting up at Modelworld. The RITA name still waiting to be covered by a DORIS label. [image info]

A lifesize (1:1 scale) brown-and-cream "stage scenery" backdrop of the side of a Pullman car, "DORIS".

This massive "stage prop" was used as a backdrop for the 5BEL Trust's publicity stand at Brighton Modelworld for several years running until Modelworld ceased.

Construction

The prop was renovated in the workshops at Brighton Toy and Model Museum, and kept in storage at the museum between the yearly Modelworld shows. As received, it was originally in a fairly sorry condition, and had to be structurally overhauled (with new window framing) before it could be used. Although the prop was "modular" and broke down into smaller panels, the pieces were still pretty large, and the Modelworld "setting-up" and "breaking-down" became an annual feature of the calendar for some museum staff.