Research & Archives
Other sources of information available in Search Engine
Various indices and finding aids in book and pamphlet form are available on open access in the Research Centre. All of the works referred to may not be part of the Library and Archive collection, but are helpful in discovering other sources of information.
Lists of the extensive railway related holdings of The National Archives and The National Archives of Scotland are in the Library on open access.
The National Archives holds administrative records, including all of the more recent Great Western Railway (GWR) wagon registers, and all the GWR locomotive records.
The National Archives has many, though not all, records of railway employees and is the more useful source for tracing details of individual employees.
The Historical Manuscripts Commission has established a new website called Archives in Focus which is an excellent starting point for tracing transport archives.
The Research Centre has copies of The National Archives leaflet number 32 Records relating to the Railways. The leaflet mentions the holdings and location of some other transport archives.
The Research Centre has a copy of the Railway and Canal Historical Society resource index, a guide to less prominent sources of railway information, which consists of four sets of microfiche slides. The sets are Railways, Tram roads and early horse worked railways, Canal and Inland Navigation, and Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous includes accidents, the Channel Tunnel, legislation, and the coal trade.
The index does not include information about the holdings of well known sources of transport information such as those listed below. However it is a useful tool in locating material held in less obvious places such as county archives and small general museums. Acts of Parliament relating to the construction of railways can often be located through this index.
Online
Staff in our library and archive centre - Search Engine - have created a directory of useful websites for researching railways on Delicious. Please note that the National Railway Museum is not responsible for the content of external links.
Sources of information outside the Museum
The National Railway Museum's Research Centre is not the only source of information about railways. Often the required information is as close as your local public library shelves.
Current information might be available from the railway operator.
Structures and equipment might still exist. York station, for example, was built in 1877 but is still largely unchanged 125 years later. Tyneside Metro is only 15 years old but has many North Eastern Railway stations and bridges.
County Record offices and the Local Studies collections of public libraries can be a fruitful source of information, particularly information about railways in a local context.
Other specialist railway resources include the following:-
The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue
Kew
Richmond
Surrey TW9 4DU
Tel: 0181 876 344
Fax: 0181 878 8905
The National Archives of Scotland
West Register House
Charlotte Square
Edinburgh EH1 3YY
Tel: 0131 556 6585
Fax: 0131 535 1430
email: research@nas.gov.uk
Public Records Office of Northern Ireland
66 Balmoral Avenue
Belfast BT9 6NY
Northern Ireland
Tel: 01232 251318 (public enquiries)
01232 255905 (public search room)
Fax: 01232 255999
email: proni@doeni.gov.uk
Science Museum Library
Imperial College Road
South Kensington
London SW7 5NH
Tel: 020 7942 4242
Fax: 020 7942 4243
email: sm/info@nmsi.ac.uk
The Ken Hoole Study Centre for North East Railways
Darlington Railway Centre & Museum
North Road Station
Darlington DL3 6ST
Tel: 01325 460532
London Transport Museum
Covent Garden
London WC2E 7BB
Tel: 0171 379 6344
Fax: 0171 836 4118
email: museum@londontransport.co.uk
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
Liverpool Road
Castlefield
Manchester M3 4FP
Tel: 0161 832 2244
Fax: 0161 833 2184
The National Tramway Museum
Crich
Matlock
Derbyshire DE4 5DP
Tel: 01733 852565
Fax: 01733 852326
email: ntm_photos@online.rednet.co.uk
Railway Studies Collection
Newton Abbot Library
Bank Street
Newton Abbot
Devon TQ12 2RA
Tel: 01626 336128
The Chartered Institute of Transport Library
80 Portland Place
London W1N 4DP
Tel: 0171 467 9400
Fax: 0171 637 0511
email: gen@citrans.org.uk
Archives & Business Records Centre
University of Glasgow
13 Thurso Street
Glasgow G11 6PE
Tel: 0141 330 5515
Fax: 0141 330 4158
email: dutyarch@archives.gla.ac.uk
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Keith Moore, Senior Librarian & Archivist
1 Birdcage Walk
London SW1H 9JJ
Tel. 0171 973 1265
Fax. 0171 222 8762
email k_moore@imeche.org.uk