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If you like trains at any age, you’ll love this collection of over 6000 objects devoted to rail transport in Britain with some amazing examples of historically important trains such as the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman. It’s got everything in train world you could want to experience, and you can quite happily spend a full morning or even a day walking round the exhibits some of which are interactive & you might even get a ride on a steam locomotive.
The National Railway Museum is a 10-minute walk from the York mainline train station, or 15 minutes’ walk from York city centre; the museum is well signposted.
At the time of my most recent visit [May 2026], the museum is undergoing extensive renovations with a new central hall being constructed, which will become the new gateway to museum. However, don’t be put off as this does not prevent you seeing the rest of the site, two main exhibition venues, the Great Hall and Station Hall.
Access to the Great Hall and Station Hall is temporarily from two separate entrances due to the renovation works, but it is well signposted. Eventually, there will be a central entrance way given access to all areas.
The museum is free to enter, however you do need to pre-book a time slot Events | National Railway Museum.
Opening hours are from 10:00am-17:00pm, seven days a week.
There are plenty of outside eateries to grab a coffee or ice-creams, as well as outlets inside the Museum for more substantial meals.
The Great Hall is a vast space stuffed full of trains. There are plenty of information boards and also staff known as Explainers on hand to answer your questions about the locomotives. Look out for the free guided tours.
There are two paid experiences within this section:
Here you can follow the life of this famous 100mph world record breaking steam train.
This is aimed at children to help them understand the science behind steam trains and the railways.
The National Railway Museum caters for children very well, with activity centres dotted throughout the Great Hall and there is the Great Object Hunt trail available for free from the information points to keep them busy.
With hubby being a bit of engineering geek, he especially enjoyed seeing the cut away sections of the steam trains detailing how coal becomes fire, then steam that drives the pistons of the locomotive and he collared a nearby Explainer to ask what felt like a never ending amount of technical questions which they were more than happy to answer. I just liked ‘the blue one’!
The trains are beautifully maintained and include:
The Mallard (see cover photo) – The Mallard is the world’s fastest steam locomotive having set the world speed record in July 1939 at 126 mph (203 km/h), which has never been broken. As well as being fast, it looks great in an Art Deco design.
Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Train – you can walk through the train, take a seat and even go on a journey (video version!).
Eurostar train – a cut away section of a Eurostar carriage inside the channel tunnel.
Intercity 125 – known as the ‘flying banana’ due to its bright yellow trim along the bottom.
Duchess of Hamilton – a futuristic looking train, like something out of the film Bladerunner. Very streamlined.
Robert Stephenson’s Rocket – the original Rocket.
There are so many exhibits to walk round, and many have access up to the footplates so you can really get up close and look inside the carriages or see the control
After a stop in the café to rest your feet, you can move into the North Shed in the National Railway Museum, which is a treasure trove of over 10,000 railway artifacts. It is referred to as ‘the UK’s first open museum store’ and we spent hours in here looking at: station signs, buffet car cutlery, stained glass from bygone era ticket offices. You are free to wander around and marvel at the collection at your leisure.
Don’t forget to go upstairs into Signal Room (check the events timetable to see when they run signalling demonstrations) and out onto the outside viewing platform to watch modern day trains pass through York railway station.
With the renovations still underway you need to go back to the entrance and walk round to the next part of the museum, the Station Hall. There is a miniature railway here, which is a paid experience and works on time slots which need to be booked.
As the name suggests, Station Hall is a station building jam-packed with locomotives, such as Queen Victoria’s Royal train bedecked in Union Jack flags which you view at platform level.
The building itself is impressive due to its railway architecture and a WH Smith bookstall built in 1922 for Waterloo Station, London. It is a much quieter part of the museum, perhaps because there are fewer interactive exhibits for kids?
You can enjoy a cream tea on the platform concourse cafe or book to have afternoon tea inside a 1907 carriage on the Countess of York.
We once saw a performance of E Nesbit’s The Railway Children in Station Hall, where the stage had been constructed over the rails, but still allowing a train to approach the stage at a key point in the performance – all very well executed.
Check what events are coming up at: Events | National Railway Museum
At this point, if you’re not completely trained out, you can leave the museum and hop on the Road Train from outside the Great Hall entrance to take you to York Minister. This is a paid ride and leaves every 40 minutes, or it’s a 15-minute walk into the city which is well sign posted.
I have visited the National Railway Museum, York, many times over the years with our children, however, this time was the first visit without kids and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the title of the blog suggests, there is plenty to interest grown-ups as well as children; in fact, sometimes, when you visit with kids, you are concentrating more on their enjoyment than your own.
Without anyone else to think about, I spent a very enjoyable 3-4 hours exploring the different areas of the museum and learning about the trains and railway system.
The National Railway Museum has been open in York on its current site since the 1970s, and as such, is a real institution in York. I would highly recommend visiting when you come to York, whether you’re a spotter, or not!
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