From the early days to visions of the future, our archive offers a picture of Manchester Piccadilly over the years. As a regular visitor passing through Piccadilly, I’ve been interested by some of the paintings and photographs in the collection which give a few insights into its history. Poster, British Railways (London Midland Region), Manchester’s…
Take a look at our free online course, in partnership with the University of Strathclyde. We have partnered with the University of Strathclyde to produce a free online course, open to everyone, on the lives of the British railway worker from 1840 to 1914. The four-week course will look at a different category of worker,…
See the latest photos of our progress on the restoration of Flying Scotsman. A quick Flying Scotsman update: the boiler has been lowered onto the rolling chassis at Ian Riley’s yard in Bury. After a few minor adjustments, the boiler fitted well. The next stages of work will include the completion and installation of the superheater…
Catch up with the latest work on Sir Nigel Gresley in the National Railway Museum workshop. Weeks commencing 5, 12 and 19 April 2021 The trailing loco brake hangers put up in the previous report, are secured on their pins by slotted nuts. The old nuts were reused but were not slotted so these have…
Our archive is helping to record and make accessible personal stories of the First World War. We recently started a project to enhance the NRM’s list of 20,000 railwaymen who died in the First World War. We have now updated the records of over 1,100 men that served, providing more invaluable data for those that worked for…
Immerse yourself in the latest story in our short fiction series by York creative writing students. Welcome to the third Case Files story, part of a series by creative writing students at York St John University. The students’ inspiration came from real-life crime stories, objects in our collection or their own imaginations. To immerse yourself…
Work continues on locomotive Sir Nigel Gresley in the National Railway Museum workshop. Weeks commencing 17, 24 and 31 May 2021 The right Cartazzi bearing has now been scraped in, while scraping the of left continues. The left trailing Cartazzi horn liner is being ground to give the correct horn gap for the axlebox. This…
One famous locomotive, many different get-ups—how should Flying Scotsman look? Of all the locomotives in the National Collection, Flying Scotsman excites the most comment. For many she is the “most famous locomotive in the world” and should be resplendent in London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) apple green paint with the iconic number 4472. The…
Travel history writer Martyn delves into the history of luggage on the railways At the beginning of the railway era, moving passengers and their luggage trunks was little more than a lottery. Luggage not stored in basically more than a rudimentary goods wagon was lifted onto carriage roofs, strapped down and protected by tarpaulin. Any…
Photographic volunteer Anne McLean selects her favourite photos from our collection. 8 November 1949 was a proud day for the Shildon Works Band. They were on their way to London to play in the Lord Mayor’s parade, and these photographs show them about to board the train at Darlington for their journey south. I think…