National Railway Museum transfers 2818 to STEAM

[phil-b259]

You could argue that a few road vehicles and something covering the 1955 strike would also be needed to tell the full story of freight by rail...

 

Indeed - and whats wrong with that? The NRM is not about fossilising a particular time period and as such the development of the 'freight train story' is far more than simply increasing the number of wagons a train can pull, particularly if the wagon design remains static with no real changes to increase, capacity / performance.

 

Similarly the 'story of high speed passenger travel; starts with the Rocket and goes right through to the Eurostar - the fact that a King can haul more coaches than City of Turo is rather irrelevant - what matters is things like the improvements on on board facilities and the desire to reduce journey times through faster running required more powerful locomotives.

[Sir Hadyn]

I'd have liked to see the Turkish 8F stay, but it was someone else's engine and put up for sale at a time when the museum was not in a position to buy it - there is a finite acquisitions budget each year.

 

As for how things are displayed, cafes etc and the coherent, holistic approach - wait and see, there are BIG plans. Even in the short term, the Great Hall has been shunted this summer so vehicles make more sense grouped together and new labels are being produced which have been written by our Head Curator and me.

[Dunsignalling]

Telling the story of how rail freight developed is pretty sterile if you only include wagons.

 

The only real improvements to wagon technology in Britain between 1900 and the advent of LWB air-braked stock were the abolition of dumb buffers c1910, the gradual rise of continuously braked merchandise wagons and vans from the mid-1930s and the  introduction of steel-bodied 16t mineral wagons around the same time, but which didn't really get going properly until after WW2. Evolution rather than revolution and painfully slow at that.  

 

It would not be a huge exaggeration to say that, for most classes of traffic, wagon design didn't really change all that much between 1860 and 1960. In general, they got up to about 50% bigger and acquired better brakes, but that was about it.

 

Given the almost stagnant scene behind the tender, the arrival soon after the end of the Victorian era, of a locomotive that could start, haul and stop twice as much as its predecessors, represented the only substantial advance on offer for rail freight at the time.

 

John

Edited August 18, 2017 by Dunsignalling

[Clearwater]

I'd have liked to see the Turkish 8F stay, but it was someone else's engine and put up for sale at a time when the museum was not in a position to buy it - there is a finite acquisitions budget each year.

 

As for how things are displayed, cafes etc and the coherent, holistic approach - wait and see, there are BIG plans. Even in the short term, the Great Hall has been shunted this summer so vehicles make more sense grouped together and new labels are being produced which have been written by our Head Curator and me.

I think we all wish you success and thank you for sharing your insights from the inside!

 

David

[jjb1970]

In the latest issue of RAIL magazine, which I've seen today, Christian Wolmar (who tells us he's on the NRM Advisory Panel) advocates getting rid of yet more locomotives (it'll only rile a few enthusiasts, he says) in order to..........wait for it......... accommodate a fish and chip shop in the Great Hall, because the railway made fish and chips possible. He's invited e-mail responses. He's already got mine. With advice like that from trusted individuals, I fear there's no hope for OUR National Collection. (CJL)

 

Having read Wolmar's article I think this is a gross misrepresentation.

 

The article makes the point that locomotives and hardware were tools used by the railway and that the historical significance of railways derives from the impact they made on society. As a fun example he offers fish and chips as something created by the railways for most people and makes a joke about putting a fish and ship stall in the great hall. He does not deny the importance of displaying locomotives and merely stated that they are one part of a much bigger story and that the NRM should tell the wider story.

 

I disagree with Wolmar on many things but in this case I think he is absolutely correct and that a humorous remark regarding a fun example to illustrate how the railways impacted society in so many ways has been taken out of context and misrepresented to portray him as a complete idiot.

[adb968008]

So no fish and chips then.

 

Pity, I was thinking having them served out of the back of a goods van, with counter in front and a V2 at the head of it was an idea with legs. Indeed if there was two or 3 goods vans all serving food with a freight loco at the head of it, would make a succinct point... it's been done before too... I believe the few surviving Gresley baggage vans at Universal Studios Los Angeles were converted to this exact purpose, nigh on 40 years ago.

 

Decent food (and place to eat it) is key to customer retention, as if they don't like the food, they leave, but don't return. This is a lesson many museums haven't learned. (I had exactly that at the LTMuseum a few weeks back, the museum cafe had a very small selection of sandwiches and no warm food, I had a hungry 7 year old.. instead of staying we went elsewhere, then wandered further into london after lunch).

 

Back to cucumber sandwiches then.

Edited August 20, 2017 by adb968008

[Dava]

I have found the NRM food at York and Shildon to be quite good. But the Crich Tramway Museum [pub or cafe] is memorable.

 

Dava

[Sir Hadyn]

Very diplomatically put! Thanks for the kind comments about ours - despite what folks say, the outlets are not expanding - but do very much cater for the crowds when the museum is busy. At weekends and school holidays you cannot find a table to sit at, it's that busy. Outside, the "Countess of York" has been rated best in the country for afternoon tea - above Betty's! Quite some accolade.

 

And no, in answer to another comment elsewhere in the thread, the collection is not being covered in oil from fryers - the conservation team would do their collective nuts! Any frying of chips is done in a different kitchen and then brought through to Station Hall. There's no fried food at all in the Great Hall cafe.

 

Catering is a necessity. Remember, around 95% of the visitors are not die hard enthusiasts like you & I, they want a good car park, clean loos and a decent bite to eat. The attraction itself counts for the last quarter of their visitor impression.