National Railway Museum, York > Reviews (8)

This review is for the National Railway Museum in York, a museum which was opened in 1975 to maintain and display items of interest from Britain's railway heritage.

The museum is very accessible, next to York station, near to car parking and easy to find. The museum is free to enter as it is receives funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is open from 10am to 6pm, although these times may change and is open most days of the day, with just a couple of days of closure over Christmas.

There are several elements to the museum, which is sited on old railway yards and freight depots. These are interlinked over a road by a connection passage, and there is good accessibility for the disabled and those with limited mobility.

The largest of the halls is the Great Hall, which has around 25 trains displayed. The museum actually owns nearly 300 trains, but some of these are at display at its other site at Shildon in County Durham and some are lent to other institutions around the country. There is a large and original turntable in the Great Hall which is frequently displayed working, and many of the trains are lined up around this.

Inside the Great Hall are a range of different trains, and at the time of my visit these included a number of Royal Mail trains, the Mallard, a replica of Stephenson's rocket, a Japanese bullet train, an enormous Chinese freight train engine, a Eurotunnel train and a range of unrepaired trains from a variety of eras.

One of the other large display areas is Station Hall, where the collection of Royal Trains is held. There are a range of information posts which recognise your presence and start to give a commentary of what to look out for in these trains. The collection is fascinating and has trains used from Monarchs from Queen Victoria right through to the present Queen Elizabeth II.

Opened a few years ago is the Works, which is situated just off the Great Hall. Here there is a viewing balcony so that you can see the work which is being done, currently including work on the Flying Scotsman. You can see the volunteers and staff working on the vehicle, and see all of the various engineering items that they use, and see how the train has been disassembled ready to be rebuilt to the exacting standards required.

My favourite section of the museum however was the Warehouse, which is a brilliantly designed area which looks like it is just a mountain of items which the museum is storing. These items are however well secured and there are literally thousands of items to look at, from Stephenson's desk to a working model railway with signals used to teach signalmen over the decades, from railway signs to timetables and from railway display boards to cutlery. There is even the packaging of the last burger to be microwaved on one of the railway networks!

The scope of the museum is therefore huge, and it is has done well to appeal not just to railway addicts, but also to those who have only a casual interest in the history of the railways.

There are lots of school visits, although the children on these are sometimes not overly interested and can be a bit of a disturbance to other visitors, but the range of information is wide enough to maintain the interest of all ages.

There are lots of hands on exhibits in the museum, allowing children to interact with many of the displays. There are the usual videos to watch, but there are also board games, interactive signals, signalmen's bells and much more to keep children interested. The museum is very large which also allows space for children to run about and explore so that they don't get too tired. Many of the trains can be boarded in part as well to aid in the hands on approach.

The staff are superb as well, and there are lots of them about to help with any questions. There are lots of demonstrations, and these are announced a few minutes before so that anyone interested can go and watch and listen. There was a range of staff ages, but all seemed enthusiastic about the museum and the exhibits, and they were all accessible and helpful.

The museum is somewhere you can spend many hours looking at everything and browsing at the exhibits. There are model railways, play areas, lots of toilets and the displays are often changed to keep the content in the museum fresh and interesting.

There are a number of choices for food, there is a restaurant in the Station Hall and a cafe in the Great Hall, which both serve food and drink at seemingly sensible prices. You can either opt for meals, or just buy sandwiches. Alternatively, you can take your own picnic, there is space in the building both inside and outside, so this might be a cheaper option, especially if you have kids.

Overall, this is a superb museum. It's very hard to fault it, as there is something for everyone who has even the slightest interest in trains. The only possible fault with the museum is that at busy times, it can be a little busy, but this is simply due to the excellent quality of the museum itself and the number of visitors who want to visit it. Definitely worth a look if you're in York, and if you are interested in trains, worth a visit to York to see it.

(also on dooyoo under same user name)