Press Office
National Railway Museum unveils hidden treasures!
The National Railway Museum (NRM) is delighted to announce the opening of Search Engine - a £4 million project that opens up access to thousands of fascinating, previously hidden treasures.
Thanks to almost £1 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), as well as financial support from other funding bodies, the NRM will now be able to offer access to its vast archive collection – one of the largest and richest collections of railway related material in the world!
Search Engine means the Museum’s comprehensive library, archive and image collection can be made available to everyone in this state-of-the-art Archive and Research Centre. It also means that the Museum’s specialist archives team will be able to work on the previously unsorted material making it more and more accessible to the public over the next few years.
The project has created a new contemporary exhibition space and seating area on the NRM’s Great Hall Balcony, offering a changing programme of exhibitions, the first two of which will focus on the Museum’s fascinating archive collection.
There is also a drop-in information centre and library where people can have their questions answered and sit and read published material without having to make an appointment. The new stewarded research room also means visitors can study original material from the Museum’s archive and image collections.
The NRM’s extensive archive includes:
Over 1.5 million photographs, 1 million engineering drawings, 9000 railway posters, 350,000 railway tickets, 2000 works of art, 2500 items of heraldry, 2000 oral history and sound recordings and over 3 kilometres of letters, reports and railway papers.
Richard Taylor, Senior Curator of Knowledge and Access, said:
“We are delighted to finally be able to start opening up our archive for all our visitors to see. Search Engine offers a wonderful opportunity to come along and share our vast collections. These include an extensive library collection, archive, photographic and art collections, oral history and sound archives recording railway sounds and the memories of hundreds of railway people. The new state-of-the-art Archive and Research Centre not only provides a modern and comfortable setting for our visitors but new climate controlled stores mean that our collection can be preserved to the highest possible standards.”
Andrew Scott, Director of the NRM, added:
“Search Engine has created a fantastic opportunity to open up our priceless archive collection to all of our visitors. Thanks to the kind support of our funders, we have created a dynamic 21st century space and stunning balcony area that has improved access to our archive and offers fabulous views of the locomotives in the Museum’s Great Hall.”
Fiona Spiers, Heritage Lottery Fund Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber said:
“We are delighted to be able to help the National Railway Museum open up its vast ‘behind-the-scenes’ collection to the public. Not only will this transform the experience for visitors, but it will also allow the Museum’s priceless archives to be stored in more suitable conditions and preserve them for generations to come.”
Search Engine officially opened to the public with a soft launch on 4 December 2007, following an extensive building refurbishment programme. Over the following months additional areas of the NRM’s archive collection will be gradually moved into the new storage and display areas, ready for a full public opening/launch at the end of February 2008.
Fact Sheet
Search Engine is now the most comprehensive railway library in the UK with an amazing 1.5 million photographs in the archive dating from the 1850’s to the present day. That’s an average of 9554 photos from every year since 1850! But the archive is not only about photographs - over one million engineering drawings of railway vehicles are also available for viewing in the archive, dating as far back as 1820!
These archive collections are not light by any means, in total the archive weighs 180 tonnes, an incredible 22 tonnes heavier than Flying Scotsman! One reason we at the NRM are keen to display ‘the real thing’ rather than a digital copy is because if the archive were to be scanned, scanning one item every 10 minutes, it would take a mind blowing 240 working years to digitise the engineering drawings and photographic archives alone!
Search Engine will house a great range of items when fully complete, with a selection of National Collection ‘treasures’ on display for all to see. These currently include items such as the following:
- The John Backhouse Letter - a significant piece of the National Collection. Written by a 14 year old County Durham boy, it is the only eye witness account of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 and is also thought to be the world’s oldest child’s drawing of a train.
- A note book compiled by railway engineers from Sir Daniel Gooch, which shows incredibly detailed hand drawings of locomotives on pages no bigger than a post card!
- One of only a few diaries in existence of Robert Stephenson.
- One of the earliest railway timetables dating back to 1839.
- Records and recording equipment from Oscar-winning sound recordist Peter Handford! This includes a hand built recording desk that was powered by a car battery allowing him to record his famous ‘train sounds’.
- Drawings and letters from the railway’s pre-passenger era when locomotives were only used for transport in coal mines and other heavy industrial processes.
- An 1877 letter and sketch by Prince Edward (Prince of Wales) outlining his requirements for his future royal carriage.
- A stunning portrait of a railway collecting dog and his owner! These were a common sight on many large railway stations platforms, collecting money for worthy causes.
- An amazing display of paintings, illustrating everything from trains to boats!
Search Engine has been made possible by a number of funders, who have helped raise the £4 million needed to build the new state-of-the-art archive and research centre. The key funders are:
- Heritage Lottery Fund
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- Department of Culture Media and Sport
- The University of York
9 January 2008