Having been to The GWR Steam museum a few weeks ago and off to the National railway museum in York tomorrow I thought I'd ask what people's favourite place to ponder on the history of the railway is? This could be static displays such as the two mentioned above, preserved railways, abandoned stations or anything else with a bit of history
I'm in the Friends of Darlington Railway Centre and Museum (it's marketed as the Head of Steam Museum) so I could be biased but it's based in a station built by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it has George Stephenson's Locomotion on display and there's a new Gresley P2 being built across the road so even objectively I think it's safe to say it's got a few things going for it. (The last time I checked the head-of-steam.co.uk URL didn't work so you might have to go through the Darlington Council site: www.darlington.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/head-of-steam.aspx)
I hope you enjoyed your day out at the NRM, I always visit the railway museum when in York as it's admission is free, I think they were thinking of charging a while back, I think they should in times like these, there's lots to see, I'd be happy to pay, it would be sad to see it close. One of my favorite places is Didcot Railway Centre, it's what I would call a working museum, there were a couple of trains in operation on both of the demonstration lines the day I went, I was able to ride in the Steam Railmotor No. 93 on one line and the BR Prairie steam loco 4144 on the other, it's the home of the Great Western Railway society, I'm a big fan of GWR so maybe I'm bias, but there's plenty of stock in working condition to see and others that need fixing up, most are displayed in the sheds when not in use. I spent a good 2 to 3 hours there walking around. My favorite heritage line has to be the West Somerset Railway, not necessarily because it's GWR again, but because it's one of the longest heritage railways in the UK if you want to get your money's worth, nice countryside scenery, we spent sometime in Minehead if you like to wonder along the beach, or there's Dunster, which has a nice little town, good place to stop for lunch and a Castle to visit too, over all a good day out.
For anyone who has the TS Sacramento Northern route a visit to the Western Railway museum in Suisun California would be a great idea. I was a member for many years. http://www.wrm.org/ Beyond Sacramento Northern it also has exhibits from the Key system and San Francisco’s MUNI. In particular the US Interurban era that Sacramento Northern represents is a fascinating subject. For anyone on vacation in Northern California it’s about 45 minutes east from the Napa wine country and an hour outside of San Francisco. It’s possible to reach Suisun (Suisun-Fairfield) from the Bay Area by rail using the Capital Connect line that runs from San Jose to Auburn. The museum is some way from the station so you’ll need a taxi to get there.
Not specifically a railway museum, but if your ever in Switzerland, go to Luzern... and visit the Swiss Transport Museum, it's massive and covers all transport... it has lost of hands on displays... the rail section has things like a crossing gate system you can operate, a pantograph that you raise and lower with a switch, a couple of siumlators with real controls hooked up, a sectioned steam loco and tons more... it's such a alarge museum you can borrow push scooters from scooter parks all around the museum to get from building to building.
I found the UP Museum in Cheyenne, Wy to be well done - I was driving through on a trip from Texas to Montana and spent a couple of hours in the museum with lots of interesting display. They also have a fantastic HO model railroad of the Clear Creek Narrow Gauge which is also a route you can get for TS2018. This is also the home for the UP Steam Program, unfortunately those shops are only open to the public on special occasions. https://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/
My favorite rail museum has to be the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona, California. Why you may ask? This:
As I said in the first sentence of the post, I'd just been to two major rail museums in the UK and thought I'd ask about other museums people have been to