Engines around the turntable, an engine, the cutaway of tender
A garden engine, Name plate, the Flying Scotsman display
Fans of Harry Potter know this sign, the gravestone for the defunct railroad, the shop
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Today is Transportation Museum Day. We were up and out of the flat before some of us were awake—it's Saturday after all. At the Central station we had some difficulty finding which train it we were to board since when we arrived there was a train at platform one to York and other places, but it did not leave at the time on our tickets. We asked a station attendant, but she did not know and directed us to the stationmaster's office—it wasn't open yet, but she said just open the sliding glass doors and knock on the inside door. We did, and two startled looking men said oh yea, your train is out there ready to go. As we walked along the platform we asked one of the train crew, actually the crew leader if this was the correct train—she made a call and as she was talking our train pulled in to platform two at 4 minutes before 7AM. We were taking the early train because there was an 80 pound difference in cost between that train and the next ones. We checked with the train manager of the second train, and he said yes he was going to York, and we were welcome to come. The trouble was really that our train was bound for places way south in England but to little towns I did not recognize. The train actually stops eventually in Southampton on the south coast.
For most of the way there was plenty of room and we relaxed. At Durham a huge load of passengers got on, and we had to move back to our assigned seats which were not table seats and therefore a bit smaller. At York we disembarked, checked at the train information about our return and then followed the signs to the Royal Transportation Museum. It was only a short walk over the station tracks and then two blocks to the museum. We saw a car crash on the way. Actually the crash was over, they were waiting for wreckers, I assume since it didn't look like either vehicle was going to move without one.
The museum is free, but they ask for donations and got one. We went first to the station room and saw the now retired royal coaches used by the kings and queens since Victoria took the first royal train ride way back when. They had other engines and coaches and exhibits in the room. We learned that when a royal train is on the tracks a pilot engine goes ahead 15 minutes and clears and shuts down the track. The royal train will follow. Then it is followed by another engine 15 minutes behind and reopens the line. The only traffic allowed on the same, but parallel line is a Royal Mail train.
The museum has created a lovely little restaurant on one of the platforms within the royal train building. This place was quite classy as museum cafés go. Nancy had a roast pork sandwich which had pork stuffing and applesauce on it with the pork cut from the loin right before your eyes, and I had a jacket potato, and a strawberry tart, and cokes with ice. Lunch was as good as it looked.
We then looked at the rest of the wagons and engines in that building. Outside for a bit, they have rides behind live steam on weekends, but outside is mostly to distract the kids and for picnics which don’t cost as much as the restaurant. We chose not to do the steam train ride which took two and a half hours.
Inside the main building.is a huge display of restored and semi restored rail equipment. First we walked through one of the coaches from a Japanese bullet train, very neat. Then we walked past various locomotives including the Pacific type named for Winston Churchill, more modern desiels and many displays. One display was the history of the railroads in the UK since World War I, including nationalization, and the divestiture of the public railroads. It is interesting that Nancy and I find their rail system very good and effective—but that natives talk about the good old days and how good it used to be before the Thatcher government did away with nationalization. One of the most interesting things was a full sized Pacific type locomotive cut open as you often see in diagrams to show how the machinery worked. There were separate explanations for over fifty parts within the locomotive--a most effective display.
After finishing the main gallery with a visit to how the royal mail and the railroads still cooperate and an appeal for funds to continue rehabilitation of their Flying Scotsman Locomotive we entered the warehouse. This is a huge dusty not so well lit storage area for the things they don’t have on display. They had wide numbers of models of many scales: one man’s lifetime production of “O” guage models of the LNR (London and North Railroad) one of the old main railroads, well over four hundred models. There were old signals, china and silver services, old style self service ticket machines, and the tombstone for a railroad that had been eliminated during the cutbacks in service. Apparently the local people were not happy with the loss of service. Within the warehouse was the story of the Flying Scotsman Rail Service from London to Edinburgh. There were explanations, and pictures, and videos. One of the stories was told by a steward in the dining car who when things in the dining card were slow and the train fast would have one of the “boys” go to the restroom and pull the chain to stop the train. The conductor would be angry and curse and complain, but the steward would have time to collect from the diners.
The next stop was the shop which was viewed by visitors from an overhead gallery. The mechanics were working on an old (it goes without saying right) diesel using an overhead crane to fit a large air resivior in the front of the machine. They had several projects under way and the shop was crowded with huge machine tools needed to make the replacement parts. They also had displays about signals, weather difficulties, and wrecks.
We spent some time in the gift shop looking at all the model trains for sale, and since we had time before our ride back to Glasgow we went to the library and spent time resting and looking at books about railroads and transportation. As the museum closed we headed back up the hill and over the bridge to the station to await our train. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:37 PM. It is about a 3 hour 40 minute trip each way between Glasgow and York. It was a crowded long tiring ride back to Glasgow where we arrived at 10:34. Quite a long day and a long ride.
19,424 Steps plus two long train rides
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