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INFORMATION OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM CAN BE SEEN HERE

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Visit the National Railway Museum vast halls of giant locomotives. Escape your home and dive into the past, present and future of the railways. Meet world-changing inventions like Rocket and come face-to-face with the fastest steam locomotive in the world.

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Behold the beauty of Stephenson's Rocket, built in 1829 to run on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway—the world's first inter-city passenger railway line.

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The name Rocket was chosen by George Stephenson, the ‘Father of Railways’ and of Robert, after he had read an account of military rockets developed by Sir William Congrave in 1805 at the Royal Arsenal Woolwich.

Rocket’s first trials were at Killingworth Colliery, near Newcastle. It was then dismantled for transportation over land to Carlisle and onward by sea to Liverpool where it was put back together ready for the competition.

Rocket took part in the opening celebrations for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway on 15 September 1830. Sadly this occasion was marred by tragedy when the Rt Hon William Huskisson, Member of Parliament for Liverpool, was run down by Rocket , and later died of his injuries, after straying onto the track while talking to Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington.

In 1862 Rocket was donated by its then owners, Brampton Colliery, to the Patent Office Museum in London, that became the Science Museum, and so was saved for the Nation.

There have been at least nine full size replicas of Rocket, including one commissioned by Henry Ford and now on display in the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, USA. But only the National Railway Museum has the original, now on display at York, together with two of the replicas. One is a working locomotive that steams from time to time, while another is partly sectioned to show how the locomotive worked"                         

Philip Benham, Chairman Friends of the NRM

Rub shoulders with railway legends from the past 200 years—from history-makers to record-breakers, Great Hall is home to some awe-inspiring engines.

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Jump on board the high-speed Japanese bullet train—the only one of its kind outside of Japan—and learn about travel on the world's fastest passenger rail network. Ignite your imagination with talks and tours from our Explainers, see our impressive turntable in action, and relive Mallard's record-breaking 1938 run in our exhilarating simulator experience.

© Philip Benham

Flying Scotsman with its new private owner - Alan Pegler.
In January 1963 Alan Pegler buys Flying Scotsman after BR warned that it was considered for the scrapheap.

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WHERE IS FLYING SCOTSMAN NOW?

Flying Scotsman is being prepared for its next tours. The NRM have now published an updated list of tour dates—find out about Flying Scotsman's planned trips on the Scotsman on the Tracks page, but please be aware these dates may be subject to change.

WHEN WILL FLYING SCOTSMAN BE AT THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM?

Scotsman was meant to go on display in the National Railway Museum's North Shed for three weeks from April 1 2020, but this was cancelled after the museum closed in response to coronavirus. As soon as the NRM know when it can return to the museum, we'll share the information on our social media channels and update the content here