Scottish Museums Day – 3rd October

This year, the Scottish Museums Federation are celebrating small, overlooked treasures in Scottish museums, from miniature artefacts to tiny details in larger works and even lovely little museums.

Their goal is to encourage visitors to explore hidden items in collections, and encourage everyone to look at Scotland’s museums in a different way.

Explore some of our pint-sized picks from the vehicle and small object collections

To help celebrate SMD, staff and volunteers are sharing their favourite #tinytreasures from our vehicle and object collections here on the blog.

Kevin shines a spotlight on Beckton No.1, one of our smallest engines, that has been brought safely home to Scotland in 2024 thanks to the Industrial Locomotive Society (ILS) after an absence of 154 years.

Over in the small objects store, the Collections Team unwrap a ‘scent-imental’ piece of BR history.

Tiny Treasure #1: Beckton No.1 – small but perfectly formed.

This wee engine won’t fit in anyone’s pocket, but it is the tiniest of our locomotive collection, and a treasure to us. This Scottish built engine spent 93 years at Beckton Gasworks in East London before being acquired by the Industrial Locomotive Society and moved to the National Trust’s Industrial Railway Museum at Penrhyn Castle, North Wales. In 2024, the engine was donated to MoSR and returned to Scotland for the first time since it was built 154 years ago.

What is it?
Beckton No.1 is an example of a small steam locomotive built for industrial use. Its small stature was particularly useful in areas with limited clearances, and tight radius curved tracks. It spent all of its working life at Beckton Gas Works in east London, which at one time was the largest coal gas carbonisation facility in Europe. In the early years of operation Beckton No.1 and two similar Neilson well tanks operated on the upper-level railway system, moving coal from the North (No.1 Pier) to the retort houses. The gas works received its coal in colliers that berthed at the two piers on the north bank of the River Thames.

Why is it important?
The engine is a fine example of an industrial locomotive designed and constructed by Neilson & Company of Glasgow. Clearly satisfied with the quality of Scottish construction and the reliability of the design, the gas works went on to purchase several locomotives built by Neilson & Company after ordering Beckton No.1.

What is most interesting about it?

It is a compact locomotive provided with well tanks for water located between the frames. The locomotive’s valve gear and motion are outside the frames, which assists lubrication and maintenance, and makes Beckton No.1 visually quite different to other engines in our collection.

The engine’s well tanks are connected by a balance pipe and are used to maintain the water level in the boiler by using lifting injectors. A well tank locomotive has a low centre of gravity, which makes this type of locomotive very stable.

Why should people make sure they don’t miss it when they visit?
2024 is the first time for 154 years that visitors are able to see this lovely engine at home in Scotland. It clearly exhibits the main components of a steam locomotive and is a testament to the importance of Scottish built engines in to the industrial history of the United Kingdom.

Where can you find this Tiny Treasure?
Beckton No.1 is on display in the Museum of Scottish Railways, Exhibition Hall 2.

Tiny Treasure #2: Inter-City miniature soap tablet, circa 1980 – a sniff of railway history

This individually wrapped soap tablet was once so common on Scotland’s railways that it could be easily overlooked.  Today, this remarkable survivor of the earliest days of British Rail’s InterCity service offers visitors a sniff of history and is an unmissable part of our 2025 exhibition.

What is it?
Individually wrapped Palmolive soap tablet.

Why is it important?
These miniature soap tablets were used on practically every British Rail train in the 1970s and 80s. They were found in the lavatories of most MkI and MkII carriages and, in the case of this object, in complementary comfort kits handed out on InterCity Sleeper services.

What is most interesting about it?
Once so familiar that commuters of the period may not even have noticed unwrapping them, these everyday objects were designed to be used and discarded. Our tablet, which dates from the early ‘Inter-City’ period, before the brand had dropped its hyphen, is quite a survivor. Viewed in context, alongside a chronology of Sleeper comfort kits acquired by the Museum from sometime Chief Operator, ScotRail, Jim M. Summers, this item helps to chart changing trends in hospitality provision, customer demands, and brand identity on the Sleeper services across four decades.

Why should people make sure they don’t miss it when they visit?
The soap still preserves an unmistakable aroma that will bring you right back in time.

Where can you find this Tiny Treasure?
This object can be found in the operational collection of Jim M. Summers. From spring 2026, you will find it on display in our Museum as part of a new exhibition on overnight travel in Scotland.

Get involved

Visit the Scottish Museum Federation blog to see more tiny treasures from around Scotland, look out for more #ScottishMuseumsDay updates on social media, and make sure to explore all of our featured items on your next visit to Bo’ness.

Coming up later in the month

More hidden gems from our photo archives

Scotland’s biannual Railway History Conference takes place in Perth this October 5th.  As part of the day we will revealing previously unseen images from Summers’ newly acquired Sleeper collection as well as many more hidden gems from our photographic archives. Visit our Flickr page for a preview of the treasures that will be on show courtesy of the hardworking volunteers in MoSR’s photographic team. We will have news from the conference later in the month.  

Overlooked value of objects in archives

Over on our ‘Year in the Life of a Community Archive’ blog for Scottish Council on Archives, SRPS volunteer John will reveal a brand new acquisition – a medallion created from Vesuvian lava collected by his Scottish railwayman father during his time with 161 Railway Construction Company, Royal Engineers. The team will be looking at this in more detail, and thinking about the often overlooked value of objects as evidence in archive collections.  Read more on the project webpage.