Nine Lums, Mine

Explorer Tom The Museum of Communication in Burntisland collects the machines that taught voices, pictures and messages to travel farther than Tom's most ambitious story. Old telephones, radio sets and televisions make a fine argument for looking closely at the boxes we once called modern. Come on an exhibition day and see how many forgotten steps sit between a spoken word and a screen. The museum's collection reaches from before electricity to present-day communication. Telephone exchanges, radio receivers and transmitters, sound equipment, television cameras, early radar and military gear all have a place in it. Only a fraction can be displayed at once, so the changing exhibitions matter as much as the permanent holdings. Some of the apparatus looks ordinary now but once changed how people worked and spoke to one another. The museum is run by a charity and uses a building at 131 High Street. Its online collection lets you explore objects even when the exhibition rooms are shut. Look for the shift from a manual telephone exchange to automatic switching, or from mechanical television to electronic pictures. The machines are not simply quaint cases: they record people trying to make distant contact reliable. Tom will pretend his own voice was the first broadcast; the equipment has a more useful history. Public exhibitions open on selected days during a published season, while groups may ask about visits at other times. Check the museum's current programme before setting out rather than assuming the door is open daily. Burntisland station is a short walk away. Give the old devices a proper look; even Tom's wildest tale needs someone to hear it.