National Railway Museum York in Leeds

Very good museum. You need to precooked online but it is free (they take donation).There are so many different trains and carriages to see its just a shame we cant really go in the old ones (except for the royal mail one).

I liked it so much, I went back the next year. The UK was the cradle of rail travel and you can look upon the mighty machines that wrote history. The flying Scotsman is there! Mallard, the fastest steam locomotive in history is there! Besides all the hardware, you will learn a lot of history there. They have a nice bookshop and the food is good too. Simply brilliant.

Always an enjoyable visit to this wonderful facility. Free entrance, but ask for donations. But it is quite a long way from museum car park, to museum entrance for the less mobile. Cant get out of car park either unless you pay in the museum. Make sure you drop off your passengers first before entering main car park. £10 parking all day is good value for York.

Enjoyed our visit. Good selection of locomotives and rolling stock on display.Entrance is currently free with boxes for any donations.You are advised to book your entrance ticket online, prior to actually arriving at the museum.Car parking onsite with a disabled parking area closer to the main entrance. At the time of our visit, parking was £10 for all day.A lot of areas currently undergoing refurbishment/redevelopment, but this did not distract too much from the overall experience.

First its free to get in but its well worth at least a few pounds as the museum has plenty to see in each of the halls starting with the great age of steam and then through to diesel and electric. I especially liked one of the smaller halls that had all the stuff that they have collected but not on display.I will be going back the next time I am in York when they will by then of added another feature. For all those that work and take the time to make the exhibition what it is well done

Highlight of our visit to York.Great selection of trains, some historically significant. Book online in advance, even though its ostensibly free (donations are encouraged).£10 to park all day is good- if you dont mind a bit of a walk, the rest of York is accessible.

Spent the morning learning a lot, its well worth a visit as its free to enter, but well worth donating to.The staff are very welcoming and willing to help and inform.I hope to visit again when the Shinkansen is available to go inside again.

The National Railway Museum is the largest of its kind in the world. Since railroads were invented in the United Kingdom, there is rich national history on this subject. One can find the first commercial railway locomotive, "the Rocket", from 1829 and lots of other locomotives and other rolling stock over the nearly two hundred years since. The museum is well laid out with volunteers and staff ready to answer questions and offer assistance. There is an excellent gift shop and coffee shop available. The museum is free, but a £5 per person is requested. I highly recommend this excellent museum.

After a meeting and filming in York, it was a visit to the National Railway Museum as it is a location for a future filming event in November and I wanted to check it out in advance.The National Railway Museum is a couple of minutes walk from York Railway station and from walking in the doors you seem to step back in time and see how the railway engines looked throughout the ages.This is an ideal place to visit if in York, or even if you fancy a day out that is something a little different.The kids will be entertained too and there are food and drinks to be had on site.Beware though, there is a shop and it sells all the right things kids love :)Something not a lot of reviews talk about are the amenities.The toilets smell fresh and are maintained to a very high standard indeed, so they are deserving of a mention on here. Well done to the cleaning teams for keeping them clean.

This place is immense! Easily spent the entire visit to York here. Free entry, the park is paid via buying a ticket at the car park desk for £10. Be mindful unless you have a blue badge your likely to have to go to the car park just past the museum about 5min walk so could be an idea to drop people off by the entrance then drive up to park your car. There is so much to see plus there are buildings under renovation with these due to be completed 2025. Even if you dont know much about trains you can appreciate the engines and coaches of so many eras!

A wonderful day trip. Totally incredible seeing such well loved Goliaths up close.The volunteers and staff were helpful and friendly.A few hours to really see everything, but an easy place to explore.

This is a great museum to while away a few hours if you are interested in seeing some of arguably the worlds most iconic locomotives in one place. Given the price of admission (free with recommended donationthere is little to complain about, but I would say that the whole experience did feel a little unfinished. In particular when we visited there seemed to be little in the way of interactivity with the exhibits, for example it would have been great to explore the interior of the Bullet Train (this may have been possible in the Before Times which is completely understandable). Also the North Shed exhibition space felt mostly like a warehouse of catalogued but unsorted items which was interesting but it did feel like Id taken a wrong turn and had ended up in the curators office!As I understand it a lot of work is underway to revamp the museum for 2025 to make it The Definitive railway museum, and I look forward to visiting it again then to give it 5 stars, because there is so much great stuff here!

Its a great place for kids to explore. Every day they demonstrate with one of their engines how the turntable works. You can even walk in a tunnel underneath one of the trains and see the Mallard engine which is the fastest steam train in the world. There is even a fascinating ambulance train.

Brilliant Museum especially if you like railways old and new. Amazing place that sows the progress from George Stephensons Rocket to the present day.The Museum is free, however a donation is appreciated but not mandatory. Book in advance is easier.

The museum is free to enter but there is a few additional extras you can purchase when booking admission slot etc. Things like the miniature railways and the mallard experience.Entry was swift and the staff friendly. We had a look round the royal carriages and other trains first, as well as getting a nice cup of hot chocolate! We then went for the miniature train ride and then into the great hall to look at all the other different trains, including one that you are able to walk underneath.Kids enjoyed most of their experience. We was there about 3.5 hours before they started to get a bit tired. The youngest I think would have preferred a few more hands on things (buttons to pressbut again for a free museum and the volume of trains it is quite amazing.The gift shop equally has a number of different options from the expected toy trains, to t-shirts to chocolate trains etc - quite a selection.A good day was had by all - highly recommended!

Overall a good museum, plenty to see here if youve an interest in trains or just need ti keep the family entertained for a couple of hours. In June 22, it was still advisable to book online so as to regulate how crowded it gets.Whilst you can get free tickets on the website, it seems to ask for a donation ticket price of £5/adult.It is a big space and split into three main halls. One an old station layout with a cafe & plenty of seating. Interesting to see the old royal carriages and some eclectic rolling stock.In another hall (short walk), there are a range of nationally important & impressive engines including a Bullet train, The Evening Star and Mallard.There is also a steam engine here with massive sections cut away & painted so you can see how it works. Sadly there is no real meaningful explanation. Indeed explanation sheets/boards are minimal throughout the museum, which kind of lets down the whole experience somewhat.A 3rd hall has a really impressive load of old junk (memorabiliaall catalogued and stacked onto shelves. Again this could have more explanation of what has been collected/displayed. This is after all a National railway museum.

Fantastic museum, although some engines were missing inside compared to there website,one style of t shirt was available? a better layout for the cafe in the great hall would be nice,plus more intro action for the kids would be appreciated, and the father of the railway ( Treithvickstatue would be better placed coming into the museum then sitting in dust in a dusty back shed ...and why is the Rocket a lot shorter than the original one?

Impressive collection of railway stock including the original steam train, the Rocket, royal carriages, modern trains and a huge selection of ephemera. Free to visit but donations appreciated. Parking lot down the road (£10 for the museum hours only). Some construction currently underway.

A great place to take my railway made kids that doesnt cost the Earth. Theres plenty for kids to see and do and we had a lovely ride on the mini train. Would advise booking the mallard experience in advance if you want to do that as its often quite booked up.

After visiting the railway museum today I certainly had an entertaining day seeing the old luxury of trains of yore and a few absolute classics, although a couple of the areas were closed off. Also of note is the miniature train ride, which is great fun, perhaps the kids play area could be enlarged a little too? But overall if museum pieces are your thing, York Railway Museum is a shining crown.

From someone who is not a huge train fan I thought this place was amazing. There are so many trains at this museum from big to little trains. If you have children there is a little park which they would love. You can spend hours here looking and you can go in some of the trains. We stopped to have lunch the food was great. The staff here are happy yo help.

Visited the National Railway Museum and enjoyed thoroughly! I recommend you book early times just so you can avoid long queues and its free! Seeing some of the magnificent giants is awesome. Was a little disappointed that you couldnt board them as I believe you could in the past, quite few attractions were not running either such as the steam ride and road train also the model railway wasnt running. The food and refreshments were delicious and reasonably priced, staff are polite and helpful to. A must see visit I recommend.

We weren’t sure what to do on the Sunday of our trip so we decided to walk up to here as it was free entry and my god it was worth it! We spent 3HR in here was such a good place to go and defo worth visiting as it doesn’t even cost you anything! Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Such a big place we had no idea. It may have taken up 3HR but if we sat and read everything we would’ve easily taken a few more hours at least!

Very pleasantly surprised to find admission is free, although you do have to book a slot in advance. Great for train buffs and those with a passing interest (like me). Enjoyed seeing the Mallard, Royal Trains and even the intercity 125 and the bullet train. Some areas were closed as refurbishment is taking place. If you want to do the Mallard simulator book as soon as you arrive (or before if possible). Nice areas for coffee, snacks and more substantial food options. Ample parking close by which is also convenient for other York attractions and considerably cheaper than some of Yorks other car parks. It had been a long held ambition to visit here and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The most significant and varied collection of Railway Locomotives in the UK. Great for young or old who are interested in trains. Enough to occupy children for an hour or two and includes a cafe.Entrance is free with a recommended donation of £5 per person.Split into two halls, one as a airy, clean Loco shed with an eclectic mix of famous Locomotives such as the fastest steam train through to a Japanese bullet train. This hall enables you to walk underneath a Loco and also has a cutaway full size Loco where you can see all the main workings (needs a bit of googling or a lot of thinking about how everything works as theres no explanation provided).The other hall is set up as a station and includes Royal carriages. Tucked away at the side is the original Rocket that represents the practical start of steam locos.A few minutes walk from York station, and with parking outside.

Extremely interesting. A real insight into the history of rail travel. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and would definitely do another visit. I was there for over 3 hours and Im sure that I could have stayed longer reading all the tags and signs. I highly recommend a visit.

A must visit for any train enthusiast, but also interesting for anyone who has an interest in social history or days gone by. The trains really are the centre piece, but there are also lots of items from railway stations displayed around the trains: trolleys with luggage, posters advertising destinations for holidays and many enamelled advertising and information signs. These items create a context for the trains and this helps to bring them to life, its easy to imagine who would be travelling and what their experience would have been when you see earthenware ginger beer bottles left on a seat or a sack barrow with suitcases and tennis rackets on the platform. The turntable in the second hall is a good reminder that the site of the museum was a working maintenance shed. The archive hall is full of items associated the all aspects of trains, railways and stations. Some are quirky - the packaging from the last microwave cheese burger served - and other show how railway staff were trained or equipped. Everything you could possibly imagine associated with railways can probably be found here. There is almost too much to take in in one visit.The site is wheel chair accessible although one life was out of use when we visited. There is one lot of toilets located near to the entrance, these are modern, clean and well maintained.As a non-train enthusiast engineer, I found plenty to look at and found the hall housing the railway associated items really fascinating. We spent four hours here, but I can imagine those who are truly interested in trains could easily spend a whole day taking it all in. Small children and teenagers may not find much to engage them as the displays are factual with little to interact with or try out.There are cafes in both of the train display halls and they offer a nice choice of snacks and more substantial meals and the prices are not overly expensive. Book ahead as the number of people that can enter is limited by time slots and just turning up may result in a wait before you can enter.

If you have never visited York before,then my top tip would be, take a look at the National Railway Museum, outstanding goes in no way describes how good this place is,you could easily spend half a day looking around but nearly a day might be more accurate.York is a wonderful City to look around and there is always plenty of interesting stuff to look at, but dont miss the Railway Museum its well worth the entrance fee.

Excellent Museum of everything related to the railway through the ages including posters and crockery! Absolutely awesome to see the Royal Carriage and how the other half traveled. Such luxury!! Lovely Cafe and shop and all FREE!

Exceeded expectations brilliant visitor experience, great exhibits of not just trains over the ages but detailed memorabilia covering the whole railway history, easy access we had a pushchair! plenty of eating options at a reasonable prices shops with a great range of products & souvenirs for the train enthusiast..Well worth a visit and will visit again

Super fun and interesting museum, lots of neat things to see and information available. Definitely plan to spend about half a day here and book ahead. When you get there, book tickets for the mini railway, they sell out quick! Food options were mediocre but the cafe in the main station and the Countess of York were awesomely set up. Unfortunately, the steam rides and the hands-on exhibits were closed when we went, but well look forward to visiting them in the future. Shockingly good for a free museum and a must-visit for anyone who likes trains!

Fantastic day spent at The National Railway Museum. You need to come here if you are interested in all things railway related. A fantastic collection of railway memorabilia and a very impressive collection of real trains including some of the most famous in the world!! Best of all it is free entry, however if you use the main museum carpark it is £10 for the whole day to park your car.

My first visit here since I was a child. The amount of trains on offer to look around is impressive. The details and presentation is worth seeing in person. The museum makes a great day out. You can spend as long as you want here. There were 2 x cafes on site serving nice coffee & cake. The car park is a short 5 min walk away. I didnt pre-book the virtual train ride experience and it was a long wait to get a chance to go on it so I will definitely do this next time

Not a train fan but I cant recommend more this place. I spent 3 hours there! Entrance is free but it needs to be booked in advance. Its a big museum, so I recommend to get a paper map once in, so it will help to organise the visit and make sure anything is not missed. There is a signaling demostration monthly and its VERY interesting. There are indoors and outdoors picnic areas, a cafe surrounded by trains and the chance to have an afternoon tea in a restored rail carriage, the Countess of York.

Fantastic free day out. Great way to spend a couple of hours. Lots to see and very informative.There are some charged activities such as the mini train, we would have paid to go on this if we had been asked at the till, however we werent and it would have meant walking back to reception and quing again, which we werent prepared to do.

What a wonderful museum! We gladly gave a donation and couldnt believe admission was free for such a large place to visit. There is the Royal trains, steam trains, Euro train and even a carriage over one hundred and seventy years old. You dont have to be an train enthusiast to enjoy this museum. A must see! You can pay £10 to park all day until 18.30, which allows you plenty of time to visit other attractions within walking distance.

A really great train museum. Plenty of historical trains and equipment to see there. The museum is massive, plenty of space inside and out with a nice little cafe in the centre. Will take a good 3 hours or more to check it all out.

Beautiful museum in York close to the rail station. Fantastic place to bring kids and family and appreciate the amazing train designs and history around you. There are toilets facilities and bar/ restaurant where you can have a bit. I really advice a visit if you go to York. The admission is free but they ask you to book the space in advance online.

Always a good place to visit if youre interested in static exhibits and education in railway related issues.This time I focused on the warehouse... North Building. Lots of interesting model engineering exhibits to be seen if you look carefully.

Great place to visit. Very interesting and informative. My kids loved it. Great for all ages with loads to keep you busy for a few hours. Staff are very friendly and helpful. Car park is only a couple of minutes walk away and you can park all day and visit the museum and also go into the city for a bit of exploring

Its a good adult visit. Maybe teenagers too if theyre open to learning/seeing new things.For younger children there isnt enough to interact with and they can become bored very quickly.As far as the trains and carriages on Display there, they are just amazing pieces of machinery. The Duchess which is very like "iron-man" in train form is spectacular. Also the mallard and KV6 I think it was called. The Royal carriages in the second part are beautiful and lovingly looked after by a really nice group of workers.

This place is crazy, kids had so much fun walking around the open space admiring the trains. Getting a chance to go inside some of them was a great experience for them. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We would definitely go again

Whats not to love about the railway museum, great for adults and kids and its free! Well you can make a donation. Its massive in there and some of the old trains are absolutely beautiful. Theres two cafes in there which are decent enough. My wife and I love it as does my 5 year old. Really good for familys on a budget like us.

I would say this is the best museum I visited in my entire life.The museum is Free to enter, but before you go you have to book tickets online. (Donations welcomed)There is a car park on the ground, you have to buy tickets from the museum, if you have a blue badge the parking is free.The museum is huge. You probably going to spend around 2 hours in the museum. The collection of trains and carriages are remarkable.If you you are visiting York, this is the place you should not miss, especially if it’s raining outside, you will be covered.

A great experience for adults with so many amazing trains to look at and read about.Could be better for younger children with more for them to do. Perhaps the museum could ask youngsters what theyd like to see / do - heres our sons suggestions 🤣- Upside down model railway- Mini railway (or individual robot trainsinside which tours around the trains- Mallard experience (simulatorwhere you can push a button and choose which virtual train youd like to ride- A big picture of the railways showing where trains are, tunnels etc.- Learn how to drive a train- Big blocks puzzle where you can make the shape of Mallard- Have models of each train going around that trainThe cafes are pricey, but well stocked ... and you dont pay to get in so were more than happy to pay a surplus for food to help museums like this keep running their fantastic services.

My three year old adores this place and as a result, we have visited many times since the museum reopened post lockdown. As you would expect there are many historic and famous engines to see up close. The facilities for families are good (The changing facilities are better in the Great Hall, than the Station Hall). There are good options for food and drink, plus plenty of benches if you want to bring your own. The museum is easy to find and clearly signposted from York station.

Brilliant place to visit. We popped in whilst in York and it was really interesting. We could only be there for a few hours unfortunately but could have stayed longer. The trains were amazing to see and you could get right up to them. Even if youre not that into trains, it is still a very interesting walk through history.

Fantastic day out for a train loving child. Plenty to see, lots of things to read, and you can still look inside some of the trains. Made a great family day out, parked at the museum and took the road train into the centre of York.

The National Railway Museum provides a really fascinating day out, even if you are not a train fanatic. It contains not only locomotives and carriages showcasing the 200 years of railway history, from the Rocket to the bullet train, but also station signs and equipment (far more interesting than it soundsmodel trains, insignia, personal stories and general memorabilia.The section showing royal trains from the Victorian era onwards I found particularly engrossing. It shows what was regarded as essential for travelling royalty but also encapsulates the development of railway carriages from their horse-drawn equivalent to the rather less ornate version we are familiar with.Refreshments are available and there is also a gift shop.

One of my favourite places! Social distancing reminders at regular intervals which was good to see. Lots of one way systems to get you around the engines which was a brilliant idea, especially as it started to get busy. A fantastic day out for the family with two cafes and picnic benches should you wish to take your own food. Lockers available for £3 but non-refundable and you can only open them once, then it takes your money. The miniature railway was an additional cost at £3 a person and was very popular, so dont be surprised if its fully booked when you arrive! I love visiting here!