The Penny Salon Micro-Gallery at Ongar Station
Free admission! Gallery open whenever trains are running
Current Exhibition: "A Plethora of Pubs - Pubs and Pub Signs"
The latest exhibition in The Penny Salon at Ongar station is entitled "A Plethora of pubs - pubs and pub signs", features pictures of a range of public houses and their signs past and present. Most of the pictures were taken by Reg Batten (1914-2014) from the 1950s-1970s. The emphasis is on Essex with more than a half of the featured pubs being from that county. Most remain in use, but some have closed and now see a different use, while others have gone completely. The breweries that owned and supplied them have also had mixed fortunes and their history also features.
This will be on display until the end of July, taking in our Real Ale Weekend
Future Exhibitions
An interesting and entertaining programme of presentations is planned for the coming year. Watch this space or our news pages for further details.
Planned exhibitions include:
- August: Barry and After - 50 years since the end of mainline steam
- September: Bygone Farming
- October: The night comes on - steam railways by dusk and after dark
Look out for further details of these exhibitions here or on our news pages and via social media nearer the time.
Malcolm Root Painting
For those unable to view Malcolm Root's personal collection of original paintings, which broke the viewing records at the Gallery over the Steam Gala Weekend in early June, the widely acclaimed picture of the new Epping to Ongar 1950s "Push and Pull" picture "In the bleak mid-winter" will now be on show in the The Penny Salon throughout 2018.
The Gallery
The Epping Ongar Railway opened the ‘micro-gallery’ at Ongar Station on Saturday 27 May 2017. The gallery is in the Ladies Waiting Room at the station. A railway volunteer and professional photographer who specialises in steam photography, Geoff Silcock, has worked alongside the Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Society members to transform the room into a place to display photographs and pictures. Mr Silcock has worked with local photographic and historical societies to bring a programme of interesting and relevant exhibitions to the Railway.
The free bijou exhibition area has been named "The Penny Salon" and will be open whenever trains are running to provide interest for passengers.
The output of "The Penny Salon" consists partially of the well established work of Eastender Reg Batten, who achieved his 100th birthday before he passed away in 2014. Reg spent much of his leisure time from the 1930s until he was well into his 80s, recording images from the now bygone world around him, especially from around Essex; Malcolm Batten is the custodian of his fathers work, and continues the family tradition, with countless photographic images published in magazines, plus several articles to his credit, and with soon to be published books on related transport subjects; and Geoff Silcock, with well over 50 years overall involved in the pursuit of his passion for especially steam trains, including its related photography and railway journalism content, with over 100 published articles in specialist magazines over the last 25 years... Plus he assures everyone that he also found the time to spend over 45 years in the photographic "D&P" profession from the early 1960s...
The inaugural month through to 18 June 2017 hosted The Essex Monochrome Society with Black and White images mainly from in and around Essex, including steam trains. This was followed by an exhibition by the Ongar Historical Millenium Society titled "The Railway Comes to Essex". "Bygone Essex" was the third exhibition to be held in the gallery, and a further selection of Reg Batten's iconic images will appear in a future exhibtion. The 2017 season concluded with a selection of images from by long- time steam photographer, troubadour writer, and former Sentimental Journeys charter organisor Geoff Silcock, entitled Steam in the Frame, taking viewers on a journey from 1961 right through to the present day Epping Ongar Railway.
Fry's Chocolate Cabinet
The c.1890s "Frys Chocolate" glass cabinet,that was gifted to the Epping Ongar Railway, and refurbished by Malcolm Batten forms an important part of The Penny Salon's presentation of artifacts allied to the main displays.
Why "The Penny Salon"?
The name "The Penny Salon" is taken tongue in cheek from the c. 1865 built station rooms other use as its original Ladies Waiting Room.