The National Railway Museum is one of the world’s premier museums of train history. In this museum visitors can see life-size trains, including steam locomotives, electric locomotives and diesel motors. The museum has more than 300 railway artifacts and is a must-see for any train enthusiast.
Its extensive collection of over 280 rail vehicles includes wagonway cars of about 1815, saloons from Queen Victoria’s time and modern express passenger steam engines. The largest section of the collection, ‘Palaces on Wheels’, features a number of royal carriages.
Another large exhibit, ‘Thomas’ and the Great Engine Room’, is the only place in the world to see Thomas the Tank Engine and the lovable engineer from the TV series on display together in a single museum. There are also numerous other Thomas-related items on show, such as Thomas’s bedroom and his schoolroom.
This museum is open to the public on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through October. Its entrance fee is 100 rupees per person for adults and 20 rupees for children from 3 to 12 years.
There are also family group concessions on weekend and holiday days. For example, 2 adults and 2 children can enter the museum for 200 rupees.
In addition, there are several railway-related activities throughout the museum. For example, you can take a walk through the museum’s signalling school and learn to use a set of rail signals or watch a live train running over tracks.
The museum is well-organized and easy to navigate. Its volunteers are also very friendly and helpful. They are very knowledgeable about the history of the railroad and the cars that they restore and they make this a really fun experience for families with kids.
Its collection is vast and includes the oldest and most unique examples of trains in the country, as well as the rarest and smallest. Its collection is also divided into a number of different categories according to the type of train in question.
Among the collection are a number of British steam locomotives. These include a class of ‘Small’ locomotives that were built to haul goods trains in the early 19th century, as well as a ‘Class A’ class of express passenger steam locomotives.
Other notable steam locomotives in the museum’s collection are a pair of LNER A4 class locomotives, numbered 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower and 60010 Dominion of Canada. These are on loan from the NRM and are normally displayed at Locomotion at Shildon, but will be re-located to their North American homes in the near future.
There are also a number of diesel and electric locomotives in the museum’s collection, and a number of other types of train cars as well. Its collection of vintage train cars is considered to be the best in the world, exhibiting hundreds of trains dating from the 18th to 20th centuries.
The main purpose of the Railway Museum is to preserve, research and promote railway history. It is a museum that has the potential to become a major centre for tourism, science and education in Britain. It is an organisation that can be used by all ages and will be an essential part of the cultural life of Britain in 2025.
