National Railway Museums - merged posts

[whole diary]

[grahame]

from the Daily Mail

Train exhibit is delayed... as it's still in use!

Museum's display of the 1980s Pacer diesel model is put on hold as rail providers still haven't updated their fleets

Rail operator Northern is still running several  British Rail Pacer 142 trains
They were meant to be replacing them with Spanish-built trains last year
The National Railway Museum has halted its latest exhibit over their use

Bosses at the National Railway Museum had hoped to be showing off their latest exhibit by now – a Pacer diesel model built in the 1980s.

However, the train’s arrival has now been delayed (of course!) as 100 of the converted buses are still being widely used across northern England.

Rail operator Northern was meant to start phasing them out at the end of last year, replacing them with more spacious, air conditioned Spanish-built trains.

[Hal]

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/covid-railway-heroes-to-star-as-yorks-national-railway-museum-reveals-reopening-plans-3213350

The Yorkshire Post reports that the National Railway Museum in York will reopen on 19 May with an exhibition about railway people's response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Pre-booked tickets available from today.

[grahame]

20 years after opening to the public on 22nd October 2004, a thread on the National Railway Museum at Shildon.  We have several mentions across the Coffee Shop over the years, but when it popped up "on the day", no specific thread on the museum in general. To start you - from the Museums Association

The Science Museum Group (SMG) has opened an £8m building to house its collections at Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham.

The New Hall development is part of a wider £95m masterplan project across Locomotion and the National Railway Museum in York, which is also run by SMG. Both venues are benefiting from new spaces and conservation work on their collections.

The new building at Shildon is the museum’s most significant regeneration project since it opened 20 years ago, making it the largest undercover collection of historic rail vehicles anywhere in Europe. 

More than 100 vehicles are now on display, celebrating the role of Shildon as the world’s first railway town.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/21714

[stuving]

20 years after opening to the public on 22nd October 2004, a thread on the National Railway Museum at Shildon.  We have several mentions across the Coffee Shop over the years, but when it popped up "on the day", no specific thread on the museum in general.

The new building at Shildon was included in the thread about the "Vision 2025 masterplan" programme, but being relatively uncontroversial there was less said about it than the bit at York.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=24394.msg299049#msg299049

[stuving]

Part of the NRM^» (National Railway Museum, at York and Shildon - about) - Station hall - has got a new roof. This is not part of the Vision 2025 project (though it would at least have met that hubristic dateline!). This report is from Buttress, who did the work:

Station Hall at the National Railway Museum reopens following £11million transformation

Restoration and conservation work to refresh the interior and exterior of the Grade II listed Station Hall, including the installation of 632 photovoltaic roofing panels.

On Friday 26 September, the refurbished Grade II listed Station Hall reopens after an £11m transformation in time to celebrate the National Railway Museum's 50th birthday weekend (27–28 September) and Railway 200, the bicentenary of the modern railway.

As part of the restoration works which started in 2023, Buttress Architects have undertaken a major re-roofing project which saw the entire 6000m² roof come off the Station Hall building, whilst the historic locomotives were left in-situ and shrouded with protective scaffolding to shield them whilst the works were carried out. This is the museum’s biggest structural project since its opening in 1975.

Buttress worked alongside the National Railway Museum team in York to painstakingly ensure that all the historical locomotives and carriages - including Queen Victoria’s train, King Edward’s train Queen Mary’s and the Queen Mother’s train - were protected from the works above...