The National Railway Museum in York is big. It's enormous, if you're eight.
| I think you’ve got to get children in here. Any interest they get, or anything they learn is good. |
Recently an extension to the Museum was opened, called The Works, which is 3,000 square metres alone. There's a lot to see too. It'd take more than day to go around and look at everything.
We managed to enjoy some of it when, as part of the young people's press agency Children's Express, we went to the opening to sample what was on offer for young people.
We found there was a playground, a miniature railway, a magician's road, a Royal Mail office, cartoons designed for "very small kids" and children's meals.
There's a "a fully equipped interactive learning centre" which is supposed to be "purely for children" says Museum press officer Charlotte Seaton, "but we find adults like it too because it's very hands-on. There's lots to do".
Ten-year-old visitor, Barclay Lee of York agrees. "It's brilliant. You get to play with a lot of things and touch things", he said. As a second-time visitor, he didn't think he new extension made much difference however.
Railway enthusiast, David Hanson, editor of a railway magazine, 'Push and Pull', saw things differently. "Things I have seen are just a little bit more encouraging. Rather than static exhibits, they seem a little bit more alive", he said.
Everyone under the age of 16 gets in for free*, and its a big plus point with Peter Pay, a volunteer at the Museum who worked on the railways for 41 years.
"I think you've got to get children in here. Any interest they get, or anything they learn is good". Before young people were admitted for free on April 1 this year, he said, it was expensive for a family to visit. Now it attracts a lot more children.
It might attract even more if Museum head, Andrew Scott, gets his way. He would like to see a history of horse transport section (with real horses). He also has his eye firmly set on the new millennium.
"We want to have a new section about the future of transport. The one thing we can be sure of, is that the transport in 30 years' time is going to be very different from what it is today. We want to do something to help people to understand or start thinking about what it might be like".
As for the present ... well, we think this is a good museum for young people. It's educational. We got to know things we never knew. We learned how trains worked. We learned how signaling works and more besides.
We had only one real gripe. While it was good being able to see inside the trains, we would have actually liked to go inside some of them. That would have been much, much better, we all felt.
All in all however, we were impressed. There are a lot of things for young people, and for people of all ages to do. In fact there is so much to do, we didn't even have time to visit the gift shop before we left.
* The museum's admissions policy has now changed, and entry is free to all. For more information, visit www.nrm.org.uk.
About the team
This article was produced by editors Lindsay Marchant and Philip Lockyer, 15, and reporters Cheryl Paxton, 9, and Scott Rainey, 8. It was published on Newcastle Community News online.
