Press Office
The World's Largest Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is the largest of its kind in the world, boasting a host of record-breakers and history-makers, and attracting around 740,000 visitors each year.
The railways revolutionised the way we live and originated here in the North East of England. York is therefore the ideal place for the NRM to care for the nation’s railway-related heritage and to tell the story of the train - past, present and future.
The NRM is home to a wide range of railway icons and literally millions of artefacts, from Mallard - the world’s fastest steam engine - to a lock of Robert Stephenson’s hair. Many of the Museum’s vast collection of over 100 locomotives and engines are on display in the Great Hall, helping to illustrate the development of the railways from Rocket to Eurostar.
Permanent displays include the jewel in our crown - Palaces on Wheels. Based in the Station Hall, this exhibition features Royal saloons dating back to the Victorian era, giving visitors a rare chance to glimpse the sumptuous bedrooms, dining rooms and day saloons that really were palaces on wheels.
The Works is home to three fantastic galleries - The Workshop, The Working Railway and The Warehouse - the extension opened three more chapters in the story of the train and is hands-on fun for all the family.
An award-winning exhibition with the only Shinkansen Bullet Train to be on display outside Japan and the first railway vehicle built and run outside Britain to enter the National Collection is in the Great Hall. It offers visitors an opportunity to take a seat inside the 82ft long Series 0 and find out what makes it one of the great engineering icons of the modern age.
In 2004 the NRM acquired world famous Flying Scotsman. The locomotive, famous for being the first steam engine to officially travel at 100mph, was saved for the nation following a massive public appeal, amid fears that the Doncaster-built icon would be sold abroad. Flying Scotsman is currently in the Museum’s workshops undergoing a major overhaul before it returns to main line service.
Launched in 2006, The Flying Scotsman Story is a £700,000 permanent exhibition, which tells the remarkable history of the locomotive, the people whose lives it has touched and the famous London-Edinburgh express from which it takes its names.
The NRM Education Service has a pre-bookable teaching service for schools, including a session in the Museum’s Interactive Learning Centre. Education Coaches are available for teaching or picnics, and coach parking can also be arranged. A range of special packages are also available for other group visits, including guided tours, refreshments and coach parking.
The NRM’s vast archives include 1.4 million photographic negatives, 15,000 books, 1 million drawings, 1000 hours of railway oral history and 7,000 historic railway posters.
The Museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm, except 24, 25 and 26 December. Admission to the NRM is FREE for all but charges may apply for some special events.
For more press information, please contact Gemma Sneyd or Catherine Farrell on 01904 686271.