Collections
Our Collection
Our collection, including over 100 locomotives and nearly 200 other items of rolling stock tells the railway story from the early 19th century to the present day. Permanent displays include the jewel in our crown - "Palaces on Wheels". With Royal saloons dating back to the pre-Victorian era, visitors have the rare chance to glimpse inside the sumptuous bedrooms, dining rooms and day saloons which really are palaces on wheels. We are home to a wide range of railway icons and literally millions of artifacts, from Mallard - the world's fastest steam locomotive - to a lock of Robert Stephenson's hair.
The Museum’s Knowledge and Collections team is responsible for the care of and access to the collections and all of the related information. Collections Care includes conservation and storage of collections, documentation and records management, maintenance and operation of our operating fleet of historic railway vehicles. Collections Access covers the cataloguing and developing of finding aids for the collections, developing and managing our digital assets - oral history, sound archives, photographic collections, film and video, managing the website, supporting the development of exhibitions, operating the Research Centre and publishing knowledge and information about the collections in a variety of forms.
The Museum has an active programme of loans from its collections, with over 3,000 objects on long term loan to around 100 museums and heritage railways in Britain and overseas. Every year over 200 objects travel to up to 50 venues across the world, providing access to a broad spectrum of people in a variety of contexts.
Download the NRM's Loans Policy (PDF 176 KB)
Locomotives and Rolling Stock
The Collection comprises over a hundred locomotives dating from 1813 up to the present day. Wagons chart the transport of goods by rail and carriages represent passenger transport of every class.
Railway timepieces
Timetabling and timekeeping are fundamental to the smooth running of the railway. Station platform clocks, office clocks, guards watches and presentation watches form part of this collection.
Tickets, passes and labels
Every journey made by rail requires a ticket of one type or another. This collection covers gold passes to simple card tickets. Luggage and wagon labels plotting movement of goods are also included.
Railway Models
The Museum collects significant historic and high quality engineering models and holds an extensive collection of commercially built toy trains.
Signalling and Telecommunications
The Museum holds signalling equipment such as lever frames, telegraph instruments, signal posts and gantries covering the entire history of railway signalling.
Railway Road Vehicles
The railways offered a door-to-door transport service and as a result, the Museum collection includes horse-drawn drays, delivery vans and omnibuses as well as early motorised lorries.
Railway coins and medals
This collection ranges from Roman coins unearthed during the construction of the railways to early trade tokens used by the railway navvies. Commemorative, first aid and long service medals are also held.
Hotel and catering wares
The collection comprises almost 6,000 items of cutlery, crockery and silver including a fine salmon server from the Midland Grand Hotel at the turn of the century and a set of Maxpax paper cups from the early 1980s..
Tools of the Trade
Tools such as spanners, hammers and machine tools used in railway workshops together with whistles and ticket nippers used by guards and ticket inspectors, form part of this collection.
Railway Shipping
The railways extended their operations with the provision of ferry services. The Museum has an extensive range of model ships, bells, plaques and other artifacts representing these railway shipping operations.
The Poster, Notice and Handbill Collections
Since the introduction of colour printing techniques at the turn of the century, the railway poster has provided a gallery for generations of graphic artists.
Further information on the the poster, notice and handbill collections
The Photographic Collection
The Museum's Photographic Collection is composed of 1.4 million images, dating from the 1850s to the present day. The photographs were taken by official company photographers and private enthusiasts, and cover both technology and the social changes which were precipitated by the impact of the railways.
Further information on the photographic collection
The Pictorial Collection
The Pictorial Collection comprises paintings, prints and engravings illustrate the growth of the railway industry from 1825 onwards. There are works by Spencer Gore, Stanhope Forbes, Abraham Solomon and other well known artists.
Further information on the pictorial collection
The Engineering Drawings Collection
The Archive Collection contains over a million engineering drawings of locomotives, carriages and other rolling stock. Most have come from British Rail and its predecessors, and from private manufacturers. They date from 1820 to the present day.
Further information the engineering drawings collection
The Archive Collection
The Archive Collection consists largely of technical material concerning the development of locomotives and rolling stock and includes specifications, reports, correspondence and drawings.
Further information on the archive collection