Railfest (or Railway Festival) is a term used by railway museums and heritage railways around the world on open days and special annual events.
112-620: The events are usually fundraising-oriented, and also involved with showing features of museums and their contents not always available in normal visiting times. The term is found in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia for such events. Railfest is the name given to occasional railway festivals at the National Railway Museum in York , England . There was a Railfest in 2004, and another in 2012. The 2012 event
224-632: A Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house , and a Perpendicular Gothic eastern arm and central tower. The minster retains most of its medieval stained glass , a significant survival among European churches. The east window, which depicts the Last Judgment , is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. The north transept contains the Five Sisters window , which consists of five lancets , each over 53 feet (16.3 m) high, filled with grisaille glass. A bishop of York
336-883: A footbridge from Percy Main station and a segment from the Channel Tunnel . The former goods shed display was retained as the Station Hall. In 1995 the museum joined forces with the University of York to create an academic research base, the Institute of Railway Studies (and Transport History). It has also since partnered with York College to create the Yorkshire Rail Academy to teach vocational skills. The museum has also provided engineering apprenticeships and participates in partnerships aimed at delivering heritage skills training. In 1996
448-478: A scheduled monument . The first record of a church on the site dates to 627; the title " minster " also dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, originally denoting a missionary teaching church and now an honorific. The minster undercroft contains re-used fabric of c. 1160 , but the bulk of the building was constructed between 1220 and 1472. It consists of Early English Gothic north and south transepts ,
560-763: A Japanese bullet train . In addition, the National Railway Museum holds a diverse collection of other objects, from a household recipe book used in George Stephenson 's house to film showing a " never-stop railway " developed for the British Empire Exhibition . It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001. Starting in 2019, a major site development was underway. As part of
672-513: A baton keyboard connected with the bells, but occasionally anything from Beethoven to the Beatles may be heard. When Thomas Becket was murdered and subsequently enshrined at Canterbury , York found itself with a rival major draw for pilgrims. More specifically, pilgrims spent money and would leave gifts for the support of the cathedral. Hence Walter de Gray , supported by the King, petitioned
784-547: A baton keyboard in the ringing chamber (all together 36 bells.) The clock bells ring every quarter of an hour during the daytime and Great Peter strikes the hour. The change ringing bells fell silent in October 2016, following the controversial termination of the ringers' volunteer agreements by the dean and chapter. The pause in ringing included the Christmas period of 2016, reported as the first time in over 600 years that
896-493: A brutal crackdown by William. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that William's forces "ravaged the town, and made St Peter’s Minster a disgrace". Later in the year, Danish invaders supporting the Ætheling sailed up the Humber and Ouse; they attacked the city, in the course of which a fire broke out, burning the cathedral. Anything at this point remaining of the cathedral may then have been further damaged by William's Harrying of
1008-555: A campaign was led by transport historian L. T. C. Rolt and others such as the historian Jack Simmons to create a new museum. Agreement was reached under terms in the Transport Act 1968 for B.R. to provide premises to be occupied by a National Railway Museum which would be a branch of the National Museum of Science and Industry then under Dame Margaret Weston and the first English national museum outside London –
1120-559: A carillon of 35 bells in total (three chromatic octaves). The new bells were cast at the Loughborough Bell Foundry of John Taylor & Co , where all of the existing minster bells were cast. The new carillon is a gift to the minster. It will be the first new carillon in the British Isles for 40 years and first hand played carillon in an English cathedral. Before Evensong each evening, hymn tunes are played on
1232-445: A collection of historic locomotives, which included Caledonian 123 , Columbine , Cornwall , Hardwicke , Highland 103, Midland 118 and Pet . Three others, set aside for preservation at Crewe Works , were scrapped in a change of policy in 1932. The LMS set aside one further locomotive (Midland 158A) before it was overtaken by nationalisation. It also succeeded in preserving a collection of historic royal saloons at Wolverton and built
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#17327826340381344-472: A competition put on by BBC Television 's Blue Peter programme for children. The roof trusses were rebuilt in oak, but some were coated with fire-retardant plaster. In 2002, the carvings round the great west door. which had become severely weathered, were replaced with new sculptures carved by Minster masons to designs by the sculptor Rory Young , telling the Genesis story. In 2007 renovation began on
1456-512: A curator be appointed for the commission's holdings (John M. Scholes), retention of the York museum, creation of other regional museums (not carried out in the way proposed), a small relics display in the old Great Hall at Euston railway station (done on a temporary basis) and a large museum of collections elsewhere in London. For the latter, the former station at Nine Elms was originally favoured as
1568-448: A fire. Any damage to the cathedral was not long-lasting. Alcuin (who makes no mention of the fire or rebuilding) wrote in detail of the building's wealth and grandeur. In his time, there was a grand altar erected over the place of Edwin's baptism, covered with precious metals and jewels. A spectacular chandelier hung above the altar, and the cathedral possessed a rich and valuable silver cross and golden cruet. The cathedral, together with
1680-603: A glass case or mounted on a plinth. Coppernob at Barrow-in-Furness , Derwent and Locomotion at Darlington and Tiny at Newton Abbot were long-lived examples of this form of display. The first railway museums were opened at Hamar in Norway (1896) and Nuremberg in Germany (1899). These inspired talk of doing the same in Britain, both in the 1890s and again in 1908, but this came to nothing at that time. Indeed, two of
1792-462: A monograph on the architectural history of York Minster. The book charts the construction and development of the minster based on the architectural recording of the building from the 1970s. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the 12th century and much of the glass (white or coloured) came from Germany. The glass was painted, fired, then joined with lead strips ( came ) into
1904-720: A move which was at the time criticised by Londoners. The building provided was the former locomotive roundhouse at York North (rebuilt in the 1950s), alongside the East Coast Main Line. The old museum and that at Clapham were closed in 1973. A Sainsbury's supermarket now stands on the Clapham site. Some items were retained in the capital and formed the basis of the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. Some from York were re-located to
2016-683: A neighbouring room, were undamaged and were successfully moved to safety. In September 2015, the first phase of the renovation project of the East Front of the Minster was completed. The final phase of the £11 million restoration of the 311 panels was completed in September 2017 and they were re-installed between November 2017 and January 2018. In total, the work on the Great East Window had taken 92,400 hours of labour, including
2128-403: A new instrument. This organ was reconstructed in 1859 by William Hill and Sons. The case remained intact, but the organ was mechanically new, retaining the largest pipes of the former instrument. In 1903, J. W. Walker and Sons built a new instrument in the same case. They retained several registers from the previous instrument. Some work was undertaken in 1918 by Harrison & Harrison when
2240-399: A preliminary Heritage Lottery Fund contribution was announced in 2009, and seeking potential partners for a further outhousing project. There are other partnerships for development of the museum estate and the land around it (much owned by Network Rail) as "York Central" but the economic situation during 2009 put these particular plans in abeyance although a similar York Central project
2352-549: A replica Rocket , with six replica carriages, for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway centenary in 1930, and a replica Grand Junction Railway Travelling Post Office. The Southern Railway inherited three preserved carriages of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway , long displayed at York and at Waterloo station , but otherwise had no policy of preserving redundant equipment. Ryde was preserved from 1934 until cut up in 1940;
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#17327826340382464-596: A site, but what was eventually opened in 1961 was the Museum of British Transport in a former bus garage in Clapham . An official list of locomotives for preservation was compiled, and many were stored in sheds and works throughout the country, others being placed on loan to local authority museums. The 'Steam' Museum at Swindon still displays a large number of items from the National Collection, while
2576-441: A wide range of models, some of which are operated on the museum's O scale model railway (originated in 1982). The National Railway Museum holds a large open library and archive of railway related material. This includes an internationally significant collection of locomotive and rolling stock engineering drawings from railway works and independent manufacturing companies. Copies of many of these engineering drawings are sold to
2688-613: Is Cité du Train in the French town of Mulhouse , although this attracts far fewer visitors than the National Railway Museum). The National Railway Museum was established on its present site, the former York North locomotive depot , in 1975, when it took over the former British Railways collection located in Clapham and the York Railway Museum located off Queen Street, immediately to the southeast of
2800-513: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum ( NRM ) is a museum in York , England, forming part of the Science Museum Group . The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant railway vehicles such as Mallard , Stirling Single , Duchess of Hamilton and
2912-683: Is among the exhibits intended for operation on the National Rail network from time to time. The museum has imported several major vehicles for display: the Chinese Class KF7 4–8–4 locomotive donated in 1981 was built in Britain and the Wagons-Lits sleeping car donated in 1980 had been used on the Paris-London Night Ferry service. The single exception to the rule of exhibits associated with Britain
3024-468: Is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm during February half-term holiday, then Wednesday to Sunday only from 10 am to 5 pm. Since 3 January 2023, the Station Hall is closed for re-roofing, repair work and redecoration, with some of the exhibits displayed there closed. Due to reopen late 2024. Locomotion – the National Railway Museum in Shildon , County Durham was opened in October 2004 and
3136-496: Is operated by the NRM in conjunction with Durham County Council . It houses more of the National Collection in a new building and a historic site around the former workshop of Timothy Hackworth and in the most recent full year for which figures have been published (2011–2012), it attracted more than 210,000 visitors. There are approximately 280 rail vehicles in the National Collection, with around 100 being at York at any one time and
3248-482: Is the 53-foot (16.3 m) tall Five Sisters window. Because of the extended time periods during which the glass was installed, different types of glazing and painting techniques are visible in the different windows. Approximately two million individual pieces of glass make up the cathedral's stained-glass windows. The windows were removed in 1916 because of the fear of bombing during the First World War and
3360-534: Is the Great West Window, known as the 'Heart of Yorkshire', second-largest among the church's 128 windows. This window was designed and built along with the rest of the west front by the master mason Ivo de Raghton in 1338–39. The tracery is in the Flamboyant or Curvilinear Decorated style of English Gothic architecture . Because of deterioration of stone mullions, the tracery was replaced in
3472-548: Is the Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen leading vehicle which was donated to the museum by the West Japan Railway Company in 2001 and which now forms part of an award-winning display, and is one of only two Shinkansen vehicles on exhibit outside Japan. Rail vehicles on display are exchanged from time to time with other organisations, and examples of new-build stock from the current industry sometimes visit
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3584-457: Is the largest cathedral completed during the Gothic period of architecture, Cologne Cathedral only being completed in 1880, after being left uncompleted for 350 years. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone , a creamy-white coloured rock that
3696-653: Is the striking 15th-century choir screen . It contains sculptures of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI with stone and gilded canopies set against a red background. Above the screen is the organ, which dates from 1832. The West Towers, in contrast with the Central Tower, are heavily decorated and are topped with battlements and eight pinnacles each, again in the Perpendicular style. In 2003, English Heritage made publicly available
3808-535: The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York , is an Anglican cathedral in the city of York , North Yorkshire , England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York , the second-highest office of the Church of England , and is the mother church for the diocese of York and the province of York . It is administered by its dean and chapter . The minster is a Grade I listed building and
3920-456: The BBC 's Blue Peter television programme. Work began on the chapter house and its vestibule that links it to the north transept after the transepts were completed. The style of the chapter house is of the early Decorated Period where geometric patterns were used in the tracery of the windows, which were wider than those of early styles. However, the work was completed before the appearance of
4032-681: The Glasgow Museum of Transport was also indebted to it, although many of the Scottish relics (including NBR K 'Glen' Class 4-4-0 No. 256 Glen Douglas currently at the successor to the Glasgow Museum of Transport, the Riverside Museum , along with the previously mentioned locomotives) no longer form part of the National Collection. The Beeching Report recommended that British Rail should stop running museums, and
4144-620: The Great Western Railway 's earliest broad-gauge locomotives, North Star and Lord of the Isles , which had been set aside at Swindon Works , were cut up in 1906 for lack of space and several other relics were similarly lost in subsequent years. From 1880, J. B. Harper of the North Eastern had been collecting material much of which was exhibited on the occasion of the S.& D.R. centenary in 1925; and which then formed
4256-652: The Head of Steam museum in Darlington . Exhibits from the previous museums at York and Clapham moved to the new site were supplemented by vehicles taken from storage at Preston Park in Brighton and elsewhere and restored. Creation of the York museum was largely in the hands of its first keeper, John Coiley , his deputy Peter Semmens, John Van Riemsdijk of the Science Museum and David Jenkinson . The museum
4368-802: The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Exporail in Montreal , as part of the ' Mallard 75' event in 2013. The two locomotives would be on loan for up to two years, during which time the locomotives would be cosmetically restored, 60008 in BR Brunswick Green (as it appeared in 1963 on withdrawal) and 60010 as LNER 4489 in Garter Blue with its original Canadian Pacific Railway bell (as it appeared in 1939). York Minster York Minster , formally
4480-403: The buttressed walls. The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. There are human heads, no two alike, and some pulling faces; angels; animals and grotesques. Unique to the transepts and chapter house is the use of Purbeck marble to adorn the piers, adding to the richness of decoration. The chapter house exhibits
4592-524: The former Minster school have been awarded listed status, among them the school house built 1830–33, two houses dating back to 1837, and a Georgian building of 1755. York Minster is the second-largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period . The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. York Minster
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4704-420: The high altar and serve to throw light onto it. Behind the high altar is the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country, which underwent a decade-long restoration and conservation project, completed in 2018. The sparsely decorated Central Tower was built between 1407 and 1472 and is also in the Perpendicular style. Below this, separating the choir from the crossing and nave
4816-421: The ogee curve, an S-shaped double curve that was extensively used at the end of this period. The windows cover almost all of the upper wall space, filling the chapter house with light. The chapter house is octagonal, as is the case in many cathedrals, but is notable in that it has no central column supporting the roof. The wooden roof, which was of an innovative design, is light enough to be able to be supported by
4928-567: The "Five Sisters" window was restored in 1925 with £3,500 raised by Almyra Gray and Helen Little. The glass was removed again during the Second World War . In 2008 a conservation project of the Great East Window commenced, involving the removal, repainting and re-leading of each individual panel. While the window was in storage in the minster's stonemasons' yard, a fire broke out in some adjoining offices, due to an electrical fault, on 30 December 2009. The window's 311 panes, stored in
5040-431: The 1390s with the exception of its undercroft of c. 1160 , which was reconstructed to provide a platform for the new high altar. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472. The English Reformation led to
5152-398: The 1846 Furness Railway No. 3 "Coppernob" locomotive, and the more modern express passenger steam locomotives London and North Eastern Railway Class A3 No. 4472 Flying Scotsman (added to the collection in 2004), its streamlined sister Class A4 No. 4468 Mallard and London, Midland and Scottish Railway Princess Coronation Class No. 6229 Duchess of Hamilton . Flying Scotsman
5264-586: The 1850s services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncombe worked successfully to revive the cathedral. In 1866, there were six residentiary canonries: of which one was the Chancellor's, one the Sub-Dean's, and another annexed to the Archdeaconry of York . During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular
5376-541: The Director of the NRM. Concerns about the condition of the concrete roof structure on the main building brought forward major changes to the museum in 1990. To maintain a presence at York, the former York goods depot across Leeman Road, already in use as a museum store (the Peter Allen Building), was configured to display trains as if in a passenger station, and this together with the adjacent South Yard
5488-577: The Great Western's City of Truro , London and North Western Railway Columbine and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway B1 Class Gladstone . The GWR assembled a valuable collection of small objects, mounted privately in a long corridor at Paddington station , and in 1925 it built a replica of North Star . It preserved City of Truro and Tiny in 1931 and purchased Shannon for preservation in 1946. The LMS had its own collection of small objects at Euston . It also began to build up
5600-471: The Minster is Robert Sharpe. There is also an assistant director of Music, Ben Morris. Among the notable organists of York Minster are four members of the Camidge family , who served as the cathedral's organists for over 100 years, and a number of composers including John Naylor , T. Tertius Noble , Edward Bairstow , Francis Jackson , and Philip Moore . As of 20th January 2024: The astronomical clock
5712-465: The Minster's bells were not heard on Christmas Day. After a year with no change ringing, a new band was appointed and ringing resumed. York Minster became the first cathedral in England to have a carillon of bells with the arrival of a further twenty-four small bells on 4 April 2008. These are added to the existing "Nelson Chime" which is chimed to announce Evensong around 5:00 pm each day, giving
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#17327826340385824-596: The Museum Garden was created incorporating a 7 + 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 184 mm ) gauge ridable miniature railway . A playground was also added. Continued concern over the condition of the remaining 1950s buildings on the site led to their replacement by The Works in 1999. This gave several functional areas: the Workshop , for maintenance of rolling stock; the Workshop Gallery , from which
5936-572: The Museum of the play of E. Nesbit 's The Railway Children , awarded five stars in The Guardian . Following this success, it was repeated in 2009, from 23 July to 3 September, and the museum provided locomotives for subsequent performances at Waterloo International station and in Toronto . Major plans under the name "NRM+" were made for refurbishing the Great Hall display, for which
6048-565: The Norman style. The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to rival Canterbury ; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower
6160-401: The North . The first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux , arriving in 1070, apparently organised repairs, but in 1075, another Danish force sailed up the river, "travelled to York and broke into St Peter’s Minster, and there took much property, and so went away." Building of a new cathedral, the Norman Minster, began in 1080, and was completed before Thomas's death in 1100. The new cathedral
6272-432: The Pope. On 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius issued a letter to the effect that the name of William (Fitzherbert), formerly Archbishop of York, was "inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Militant." Thus there was now St William of York (whose name is perhaps more often associated with the adjacent St William's College). York had its saint but it took until 1279, when William de Wickwane (William de Wykewayne)
6384-401: The Tank Engine books were assured a permanent place in the NRM's collection of historical railway books, due to their role in maintaining children's interests in railways. In 1991, Christopher Awdry chose to fictionalise this event in Thomas and the Great Railway Show , where Thomas (the most iconic of Awdry's characters) was made an honorary member of the NRM collection by Sir Topham Hatt and
6496-406: The Tuba Mirabilis was added and the Great chorus revised. The same firm rebuilt this Walker-Harrison instrument in 1931 when a new console and electro-pneumatic action were added together with four new stops. The smaller solo tubas were enclosed in the solo box. In 1960, J. W. Walker & Sons restored the actions, lowered wind pressures and introduced mutations and higher chorus work in the spirit of
6608-451: The York Central redevelopment which will divert Leeman Road, the National Railway Museum will be building a new entrance building to connect the two separate parts of the museum together. At the same time, the space around the museum was to be landscaped to provide public spaces. In 2020, architectural practice Feilden Fowles won an international competition to create the museum's new £16.5 million Central Hall building—a key element of
6720-515: The basis of a museum opened at York by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1928 under the curatorship of E. M. Bywell. The smaller exhibits were housed in the old station buildings and the rolling stock and other large exhibits in the former locomotive erecting and repair shops of the old York and North Midland Railway (demolished after the museum closed). Despite this however, the locomotives were displayed on short lengths of track acting as plinths, very much in traditional museum style. It
6832-490: The cathedral. Following the easing of religious tensions some work was done to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a major restoration. However, on 2 February 1829, an arson attack by Jonathan Martin inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in
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#17327826340386944-432: The central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia (headquarters of the Roman fort of Eboracum ) were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, re-opened to the public in spring 2013 as part of
7056-408: The current organ was announced. The project took two years for its completion in March 2021 and saw nearly all of its 5,403 pipes removed and taken to organ specialists Harrison & Harrison in Durham. The organists of York Minster have had several official titles, the job description roughly equates to that of Organist and Master of the Choristers . The current Organist and Director of Music of
7168-456: The earliest era of photography to the modern day. These include official collections from railway companies and collections from enthusiasts like Eric Treacy and H. Gordon Tidey . In 1999/2000 the Museum began to collect recordings of former railway staff for a National Archive of Railway Oral History. It also holds the archive of steam train recordings by Peter Handford . In 2009 The Forsythe Collection of travel and transport ephemera
7280-456: The early 19th century. On 9 November 2022 King Charles III unveiled a statue of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in a niche on the west facade of York Minster. The Minster's consulting architects (since 1965 called "Surveyors of the Fabric" – see Cant and Aylmer, York Minster , p. 554) have included the following: The fire of 1829 destroyed the organ and the basis of the present organ dates from 1832, when Elliot and Hill constructed
7392-405: The east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million. The 311 glass panels from the Great East Window were removed in 2008 for conservation. The project was completed in 2018. There have been choir schools associated with the Minster since the 7th century. A 'song school' was founded in 627 by Paulinus of York , the first Archbishop of York. Buildings used by
7504-400: The fire and contained it, while York Minster's staff and clergy rushed to preserve historical objects in the building. The glass of the south transept rose window was shattered by the heat but the lead held it together, allowing it to be taken down for restoration. A subsequent investigation found an 80% chance that the fire was caused by a lightning strike to a metal electrical box on top of
7616-492: The heritage railway movement to assist with their new build locomotive and restoration projects. They are also sold to modellers who can use the drawing to produce accurate scale models. The library holds more than 20,000 books and 800 journals of which around 300 are active. The archive also holds a large collection of technical and test records, as well as timetables including a large number of Bradshaw timetables . The archives also hold some 1.75 million photographs covering
7728-435: The influence of Saint-Urbain, Troyes in the tracery in the vestibule, while the stalls are enlarged versions of the archivolt niches in the portal of Notre-Dame de Paris . The nave was built between 1291 and c. 1350 and is also in the decorated Gothic style. It is the widest Gothic nave in England and has a wooden roof (painted so as to appear like stone) and the aisles have vaulted stone roofs. At its west end
7840-424: The late 1980s with an exact copy. The east end of the Minster was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Despite the change in style, noticeable in details such as the tracery and capitals, the eastern arm preserves the pattern of the nave. The east end contains a four-bay choir; a second set of transepts, projecting only above half-height; and the Lady Chapel. The transepts are in line with
7952-411: The late 19th century, the National Collection today results from the fusion of two long-running official initiatives. One was led by the State museums sector, evidencing pioneering technology, and the other by the railway industry, in which the key contribution came from the North Eastern Railway as successors to the historic Stockton and Darlington Railway . What became the Science Museum collection
8064-475: The looting of much of the cathedral's treasures and the loss of much of the church lands. Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars. In the English Civil War the city was besieged and fell to the forces of Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to
8176-581: The main hall to the Workshop Gallery, the Museum Inclinator was constructed. Besides its primary function, this also served to demonstrate the workings of a funicular railway . To that end its workings were exposed in the style of a larger open air funicular railway, rather than being concealed in the fabric of the building as is more normal for intramural lifts. It ceased working due to lack of spare parts, and with no plans for repair it
8288-491: The museum commissioned a working replica of Stephenson's Rocket for the following year's Liverpool and Manchester Railway 150th anniversary. This has since represented the museum at events around the world. Another working replica was added to the collection for the 150th anniversary of establishment of the Great Western Railway in 1985: that of the 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ) broad gauge locomotive Iron Duke . In 1990, The Rev. W. Awdry 's Railway Series Thomas
8400-593: The museum for short periods. Other physically large exhibits are the Stockton and Darlington Railway Gaunless Bridge and several stationary winding engines used on railway inclines. The many other two and three-dimensional elements of the collection include signalling equipment, road vehicles, ship models, posters , drawings and other artwork, tickets , nameplates, staff uniforms, clocks , watches , furniture and equipment from railway companies' hotels , refreshment rooms and offices (including company seals ) and
8512-511: The museum had a high-profile campaign, supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund , to purchase Flying Scotsman which arrived at the Museum as the climax of Railfest. The first stage of a new centre providing easy access to the museum's Library and Archives, called "Search Engine", opened at the end of 2007. From 18 July to 23 August 2008, a popular new venture was the staging by York Theatre Royal at
8624-414: The museum's Vision 2025 masterplan. In January 2023, the museum's Station Hall (a Grade II listed "former goods station built between 1875–77") was closed for an estimated 18 months for "urgent structural repair" which was to include the installation of a new roof over that area. The National Railway Museum has over 6,000 objects on display of which around 100 are locomotives or rolling stock which tell
8736-425: The neo-classical movement. They cleaned the organ in 1982. The fire of 1984 affected the organ but not irreparably; the damage hastened the time for a major restoration, which was begun in 1991 and finished two years later by Principal Pipe Organs of York, under the direction of their founder, Geoffrey Coffin, who had at one time been assistant organist at the Minster. In 2018, a £2 million project to refurbish
8848-459: The new exhibition exploring the history of the building of York Minster. On 9 July 1984, York Minster suffered a serious fire in its south transept during the early morning hours. Firefighters made a decision to deliberately collapse the roof of the south transept by pouring tens of thousands of gallons of water onto it, in order to save the rest of the building from destruction. A total of 114 firefighters from across North Yorkshire responded to
8960-759: The only other locomotive preserved by the Southern was Boxhill in 1947. ( Gladstone was preserved by the Stephenson Locomotive Society as a private initiative and much later (in 1959) donated to the British Transport Commission .) The nationalisation of British Railways in 1948 gave the opportunity for a more consolidated approach and a report was produced by the British Transport Commission in 1951. Amongst other things this recommended
9072-493: The public can look down on this work; a Working Railway Gallery , giving an insight into current and recent operation including a balcony overlooking York railway station hosting a set of monitors showing live feeds from the monitors at York IECC ; and the Warehouse which provides an innovative open storage area, which has proved popular with both public and museum professionals. In order to provide step-free access from
9184-421: The railway station; since then, the collection has continued to grow. The museum is accessible on foot from York railway station . A "roadtrain" runs from the city centre (near York Minster ) to the museum on Leeman Road during half-term, holidays and summer. York Park and Ride also serve the museum from the car park entrance, on Line 2 (Rawcliffe Bar-York). Admission to the museum has been free since 2001. It
9296-475: The remainder divided between Locomotion at Shildon and other museums and heritage railways . The earliest are wagonway vehicles of about 1815. The permanent display includes "Palaces on Wheels", a collection of Royal Train saloons from Queen Victoria 's early trains through to those used by Queen Elizabeth II up to the 1970s, among them some of the first rail vehicles to be set aside for preservation. Other key exhibits normally to be seen at York include
9408-440: The rest of the city, then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There were a series of Benedictine archbishops , including Saint Oswald of Worcester , Wulfstan and Ealdred , who travelled to Westminster to crown William the Conqueror in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the cathedral. In January 1069 a rebellion in support of Edgar Ætheling triggered
9520-464: The roof, a 10% chance that the fire was caused by arson, and a 10% chance that the fire was caused by an electrical fault. Some traditionalist Anglicans suggested the fire was a sign of divine displeasure at the recent consecration as Bishop of Durham of David Jenkins , whose views they considered heterodox . A repair and restoration project was completed in 1988 at a cost of £2.25 million, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won
9632-456: The same day as Bishop of Durham , paid all the expenses. The tomb of Walter de Gray was erected in the south transept. His remains were interred on "the vigil of Pentecost, 1255" under his effigy "in full canonicals" carved in Purbeck marble under a canopy resting on ten light pillars. It was subsequently somewhat hidden behind a screen of ironwork erected by Archbishop William Markham in
9744-421: The south transept is a rose window whose glass dates from about 1500 and commemorates the union of the royal houses of York and Lancaster . The roofs of the transepts are of wood; that of the south transept was burnt in the fire of 1984 and was replaced in the restoration work which was completed in 1988. New designs were used for the bosses , five of which were designed by winners of a competition organised by
9856-423: The stories for Britain's railway innovation. The collection also includes fine jewellery worn by railway queens, models of planes, boats and hovercraft, and experimental technologies such as Louis Brennan 's Gyroscopic Mono-rail car. It is the largest museum of its type in Britain, attracting 782,000 visitors during the 2018/19 financial year (the largest in the world in terms of floor area of exhibition buildings
9968-573: The subject such as the Latin Douce Apocalypse (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce MS 180) and the Old French Queen Mary Apocalypse (London, British Library Royal MS BXV). The work was conceived by Archbishop John of Thoresby in the mid fourteenth century, but the window itself was only completed thanks to the funding of Bishop Walter Skirlaw and Archbishop Richard Scrope. Another important window
10080-625: The time required to add protective UV coating on the glass. The work was largely undertaken or overseen by Peter Gibson , who worked on all the Minster's windows during his career. The two west towers of the minster hold bells , clock chimes and a concert carillon . The north-west tower contains Great Peter (216 cwt or 10.8 tons ) and the six clock bells (the largest weighing just over 60 cwt or 3 tons). The south-west tower holds 14 bells (tenor 59 cwt or 3 tons) hung and rung for change ringing and 22 carillon bells (tenor 23 cwt or 1.2 tons) which are played from
10192-426: The website recommends pre-booking archive materials at least 24 hours in advance. The majority of its collections have been listed on its website for people to view what materials are available prior to their visit. For those people that cannot visit the museum itself there is a research service offered by the museum called Inreach . Although there had been amateur attempts to establish a national railway museum from
10304-499: The windows. The 77-foot (23 m) tall and 32-foot (9.8 m) wide The Dean and Chapter of York commissioned John Thornton in 1405 to design the Great East Window; he was paid £66 for the work. This is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country, according to the Minster. The window represents scenes from the Book of Revelation , and the glazier Thornton may have been influenced by earlier illuminated manuscripts on
10416-433: The workings of a steam locomotive. The new museum received over a million visitors in its first year and was favourably received by critics. Significant events of 1979 were the restoration of a train of appropriate vehicles to mark the centenary of on-train catering and an exhibition to mark the centenary of railway electric traction which drew attention to the museum's important collections in this area. Also in 1979
10528-437: Was acquired for the collection. Many of the museum's artworks and posters can also be viewed through Search Engine although these are now displayed in a series of temporary exhibitions in the museum's new art gallery which opened in 2011. The Search Engine facility opened in late 2007 and is open from 10:00 to 17:30 Wednesday to Saturday. The archive and library collections can be viewed by anyone without an appointment although
10640-413: Was also completed, with a wooden spire . Building continued into the 15th century. The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels; the Norman choir was demolished in
10752-587: Was begun in the 1860s by the Patent Office, whose museum included such early relics as Puffing Billy , Stephenson's Rocket and Agenoria (sister locomotive to Stourbridge Lion ), which was outhoused to York at an early date. Preservation of redundant equipment by the railway companies themselves was a matter of chance. Sometimes relics were stored in company workshops and offices and some were destroyed as circumstances changed. Some were put on public display, usually at railway stations, displayed in
10864-551: Was dedicated to Saint Peter . The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the See of York. He repaired and renewed the structure, installing leaded roofs, glass windows, and rich furnishings. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe. In 741, the cathedral may have been damaged or destroyed in
10976-460: Was elected archbishop, for the remains of the canonised William to be transferred to a shrine prepared for them behind the high altar. This was placed on a platform raised upon the arches of the crypt removed to this position for that purpose. On 29 December King Edward I himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulder the chest or feretory containing the relics to their new resting-place and Anthony Beck , consecrated
11088-465: Was installed in the north transept of York Minster in 1955. The clock is a memorial to the airmen operating from bases in Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland who were killed in action during the Second World War . The clock is not currently working. In November 2002, York Minster was illuminated in colour, devised by York-born Mark Brayshaw, for the first time in its history. The occasion
11200-508: Was launched by the city council at the beginning of 2016. The NRM+ project was cancelled in April 2011 due to lack of success in assembling the funding package. However, major changes to the displays in the Station Hall began later in 2011. In 2012, the NRM decided to repatriate temporarily the two LNER A4 class steam locomotives, numbers 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower and 60010 Dominion of Canada from their respective North American homes at
11312-456: Was likely immediately to the south of the old Saxon cathedral, which was probably demolished once the new structure was completed. Built in the Norman style, the new cathedral was 364.173 ft (111 m) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in
11424-479: Was marketed as The Great Railway Show . A further selection of exhibits formed the National Railway Museum on Tour on display for a season in the former Swindon Works . Meanwhile, the main building was completely re-roofed and reconstructed retaining only one of the two original 1954 turntables . It was reopened on 16 April 1992 by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent as the Great Hall giving enhanced opportunities to display large artifacts such as railway signals ,
11536-411: Was near the current Minster (possibly to the north, underneath the modern Dean's Park ) but not directly on the same site. Moves towards a more substantial building began shortly after Edwin's baptism. According to Bede, Edwin set about building a larger church made of stone, intended to enclose the wooden chapel in which he had been baptised. This stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and
11648-567: Was only when the NRM was formed that Britain acquired a rail-served railway museum where large exhibits could come and go with ease. The collection was dominated by items from the North Eastern Railway, together with Great Northern Railway items. The other three ' Big Four ' railway companies showed little interest in contributing to the LNER's initiative, though eventually one locomotive representative of each did find its way there:
11760-531: Was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , in 1975. The opening coincided with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, for which several working exhibits were provided. By comparison with the museum's predecessors coverage of ordinary passenger coaches and non-steam motive power was enhanced, but a popular new exhibit was ex-Southern Railway Merchant Navy Class No. 35029 Ellerman Lines sectioned to show
11872-412: Was probably in or beside the old Roman principia , (the military headquarters), which may have been used by the king when in residence in York. Archaeological evidence indicates the principia was located partly beneath the post-1080 Minister site, but excavations undertaken in 1967-73 found no remains of the pre-1080 churches. It can therefore be inferred that Edwin's church, and its immediate successors,
11984-605: Was quarried in nearby Tadcaster . The Minster is 524.5 feet (159.9 m) long and the central tower has a height of 235 feet (72 m). The choir has an interior height of 102 feet (31 m). The north and south transepts were the first parts of the new church to be built. They have simple lancet windows , including the Five Sisters in the north transept. These are five lancets, each 16.3 metres (53 ft) tall and five feet wide and glazed with grey ( grisaille ) glass, rather than narrative scenes or symbolic motifs that are usually seen in medieval stained-glass windows. In
12096-426: Was removed by August 2013. 2004 saw several major developments at the museum. Several railway anniversaries were celebrated by a major "Railfest". Another took place from 25 to 30 May 2008 with a Sixties theme. The Locomotion museum was opened at Shildon , County Durham providing undercover collection care facilities for more rail vehicles (particularly freight wagons) from the museum's collection. In addition,
12208-671: Was selected for "Rose", a son et lumiere created by international artists Ross Ashton and Karen Monid which lit up the entire exterior of the south transept of the minster and illuminated the Rose Window. There were also satellite illuminate events in Dean's Park . In 2000, the Dean and Chapter allowed the York Mystery Plays to be performed for the first time inside the Minster, directed by Gregory Doran . The Plays returned to
12320-428: Was sponsored by EMAP magazines Rail , Steam Railway and Model Rail . The 2000 event was promoted as being a celebration of 200 years of Steam. The 2004 event featured a Class 171 Turbostar DMU, a Class 375 Electrostar EMU, a Class 390 Pendolino EMU and a Eurostar train . The 2012 event had the theme of record breakers, and featured exhibits such as This rail-transport related article
12432-517: Was summoned to the Council of Arles in 314 , indicating the presence of a Christian community in York at this time; however, archaeological evidence of Christianity in Roman York is limited. The first recorded church was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin , King of Northumbria . The location of this church, and its pre-1080 successors, is unknown. It
12544-576: Was televised live on the BBC1 Look North programme. Similar illuminations have been projected over the Christmas period in subsequent years. York Minster was also artistically illuminated on 5 November 2005, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the foiling of York-born Guy Fawkes ' gunpowder plot. This was done by Patrice Warrener using his unique "chromolithe" technique with which he 'paints' with light, picking out sculpted architectural details. In October 2010, York Minster's south transept
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