National Railway Museum. York
I can remember quite vividly as a young child, watching the Black 5 loco's from our back garden, shunting up and down in the marshalling yards at Brough, getting connecting up to their respective carriages and container wagons for their onward journey to Hull, Leeds and further afield. On other occassions I remember going to catch the train with my brother and mother, walking over the wooden footbribge at Brough station, and timing the walk across the bridge just as the loco was underneath and getting showered in warm steam comming up from the train's chimney, mother wasn't impressed! I suppose that's where the roots were laid for my passion about steam trains, It was their size, (they were massive engines, and still are) the smell, the power they generate was quite awsome, especially for a young child of about 5 years of age.
For anyone with an interest or passion about trains or the railway in general, the National Railway Museum on Leeman Road in York is a must place to visit.
It was way back in 1862 when the Patent Office acquired George Stephenson's Rocket steam engine. Towards the late nineteenth century railway companies expanded across the country resulting in them collecting large amounts of railway paraphernalia. The largest being the London and North Eastern Railways (LNER) and as a consequence a public museum dedicated to the railways was opened in York in 1927. The other major rail contributors such as the Great Western, the London Midland and Scotish Railways and the Southern Railway continued to amass large quantities or railway memorabelia. It wasn't until 1948 though and the Nationalisation of the Railways that these collections were all brought together, which, resulted in 1951, and the appointment of a curator of historical relics. British Rail went on to establish two more museums, the British Transport Museum in London and one in Swindon.
It was as a result of the 1968 Transport Act that British Rail in conjunction with the Science Museum developed the concept for a National Railway Museum, the result being a New Museum for York on the site of the old steam locomotive depot, and the National Railway Museum down Leeman Road was established, opening in 1975.
Since then the Museum has gone from strength to strength, it expanded across Leeman Road in 1990, when it converted the old railway's goods department into the Station Hall. In 1990 the museum won the museum of the year award. Work continued and conversion of the old diesel depot next to the Great Hall into a store and latterly into the Works, now gives the public access into the workshop via a viewing balcony. In 2001 the museum gained the European Museum of the Year award.
Continuous improvements to the museum has made it one of the most popular visitor attractions in York and the North of England.
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