The National Railway Museum is celebrating its 50th birthday with the completion of a multi-million pound refurbishment.
Station Hall, closed to the public since 2023, will reopen at the York, UK museum in September after the completion of a £10.5m refurbishment project. Visitors will be able to rediscover the grandeur of the historic exhibition space in time for a special birthday weekend on 27–28 September, marking 50 years since the museum opened in 1975.
The former goods station and Grade II listed building represents around a third of the museum’s exhibition space. It will reopen in September with refreshed interior decoration and stunning new collection items, alongside timeless returning favourites such as the royal carriages. The building has also received a brand-new roof, fitted with energy-efficient solar panels.
Also new this year is Railway Firsts, a brand-new exhibition on display at both the National Railway Museum and sister museum Locomotion in County Durham. The exhibition spotlights the pivotal innovations and unexpected “firsts” that shaped the railways and our history, presented through a series of eye-catching pop-up displays, as visitors journey through the museum.
The National Railway Museum is currently marking its 50th birthday year with a new campaign, NRM50, featuring photographs of cherished visits captured on camera by the public over the last five decades.
To mark its 50th birthday, the museum played host to special celebrations last weekend (27 – 28 September), with visitors offered the chance to access behind-the-scenes areas of the museum, previously unseen by the public.
Celebrating railway heritage
Both the aforementioned Science Museum Group sites are key partners in Railway 200, a nationwide campaign to celebrate 200 years since the first fare-paying passenger journey on 27 September 1825, widely regarded as the birth of the modern railway. The same date was chosen to open the National Railway Museum, the first national museum outside of London, in 1975.
A four-carriage touring Railway 200 exhibition train called ‘Inspiration’, curated in partnership with the National Railway Museum, is currently travelling across Britain until next summer, promoting innovation and careers within the rail industry.
“I stepped on board as Director at the start of one of the most exciting years in the history of the railways,” says Craig Bentley, who started the interim role at the museum in January.
“We have a truly exciting programme of activity ahead, and through our partnership with Railway 200, we are thrilled to be at the heart of a national celebration of the past, present and future of the railways.
“I cannot think of a better 50th birthday present than a restored and revitalised Station Hall. I know how keen our visitors are to see the results of our hard work inside the space.”
On the right tracks
Station Hall has received a £10.5m programme of conservation and repair work, funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), including an entirely new, thermally efficient roof to protect the collection, new full-length rear windows and enhanced lighting. The refreshed exhibition has been made possible by a generous donation from lead funders, Friends of the National Railway Museum.
Firm favourites such as Mallard, the Japanese bullet train Shinkansen, and Eurostar will continue to thrill visitors as part of an unrivalled collection of rail vehicles and objects at the museum, which welcomed almost 700,000 visitors last year.
Station Hall will also host a brand-new dining experience, with visitors able to book afternoon tea aboard a former London & South Western Railway dining saloon carriage, built in 1907 and restored by the museum. The museum’s popular outdoor play area and miniature railway will also reopen alongside Station Hall.
Further improvements this year include the museum’s brand-new welcome building, gallery and café, Central Hall, the next and most significant stage of a c£100m masterplan of improvement and investment that has regenerated and modernised the National Railway Museum and Locomotion.
Elsewhere in Yorkshire, the Science Museum Group opened a major new gallery, Sound and Vision, at the Science and Media Museum in Bradford.
