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Explore 200 years of history at the British National Railway Museum

On a recent trip to London, England for a family wedding, my sister, a cousin and a friend spent a few days in York. This historic town in the north of England is easily reached by train with many connections leaving daily.
trains
The beautifully engineered roundtable in the Great Hall at the Railway Museum.

On a recent trip to London, England for a family wedding, my sister, a cousin and a friend spent a few days in York. This historic town in the north of England is easily reached by train with many connections leaving daily. We stayed in the Premier Inn, just outside the walls of the old town, an easy walk through the historic Micklegate into this ancient city, with a history stretching back to when the Romans occupied England over two millennia ago. There are still Roman ruins from that time, as well as much medieval architecture. The Vikings occupied York for about a century and the Jorvik Viking Museum is highly entertaining with its ride into the past, but be sure to check out the York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum and gardens while there.

Walking the walls, dating back to Roman times, provides a pleasant circumnavigation of the old town with its many gates that provide easy access down to street level. Maintained throughout Viking and medieval times, the walls are the most complete in England and there is even a Friends of York Walls society, so passionate about their walls are the people of York. On this trip, the weather was not cooperative, so we didn’t do much wall-walking which was on my to-do list. While my sister and cousin went on a tour of the spectacular Yorkminster Cathedral, my friend and I opted for a visit to the British National Railway Museum, the largest railway museum in the world – not surprising, given that England is the birthplace of the train (steam engine) and York is a major transportation hub between the south and the north of England. Walking through this sprawling complex, the only National Museum outside London and conveniently located beside the modern-day York Train Station, is to take a walk through over 200 years of railway history.

In the Great Hall roundhouse we watched a demonstration of the roundtable. So amazing is the engineering that two people can turn the multi-ton steam engine by hand to get it into a different position. There’s a sleek Eurostar like the one that plies the Chunnel Tunnel. On touring the Japanese Shinkansen bullet train, you can watch a rather dated video of it in operation in the 1960s. I was struck by the irony of this high-speed train, now replaced by newer, much faster versions in Japan, while the 50-year-old bullet train on display in York is faster than any train in Canada! When it comes to trains, we are woefully behind in technology.

On display in the Station Hall are the beautiful royal trains – the height of luxury in their day, fitted out to carry the royals in style. Queen Victoria’s lavish carriage was a palace on wheels; others on display were used by Queen Mary, Queen Adelaide and King Edward VII. Another highlight is an exhibition dedicated to the famous Flying Scotsman, the first steam engine to break the 100 mph barrier. It was named for the London to Edinburgh run, which she was the first to pull non-stop on May 1, 1928 and still one of the most important train lines in the U.K. today. For the true train buff there are over a million items of railway paraphernalia you can check out in this world famous museum. Visitors can see, touch, and climb all over the many trains on display as well as watch engineering work in progress. There is no entry fee, but donations are appreciated. Before leaving, I had to buy a couple of Thomas books for the grandchildren in the well-stocked gift shop. Given the rain outside, we passed on the mini-train ride.

The four of us met up in Betty’s Tea Shop to enjoy traditional tea with sandwiches and scones with clotted cream and to swap stories about our visits. Despite the rain, York did not disappoint.