Visiting The National Railway Museum in York, England with children
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side·track (sīd´trăk): n. 1. A diversion from the main course. 2. A detour taken with children that you would never, ever take without them.
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Who:
A family of four from Chicago, IL with kids ages 3 and 5.

What:
A day at the National Railway Museum, in York, England. The excitement started during the hour-long train ride from Thornaby station, increased during the 5-minute (and very well marked) walk from York train station to the museum, and peaked with shrieks of excitement when the kids saw the shiny trains in the gigantic warehouse-style museum.

The National Railway museum – with free entry – houses every imaginable kind of train including Thomas the Tank Engine look-alikes, a Japanese bullet train, Royal trains, a mail train, and of course a small train that visitors can ride. We planned to spend four hours there and then visit York Minster, but ended up staying the whole day, rushing out to get our 5 pm train home.

Why:
My husband grew up in the area, and although we visit every year, the kids haven’t done well on full-day excursions until pretty recently. But this won’t be our last visit to the museum!

The Low Point:
The museum is a big, busy place, with visitors of all ages. At one point, my 5-year-old wandered off in one direction and disappeared behind a train, and my 3-year-old ran up a ramp (which led inside a train) and created chaos in the flow of people. After that we made the kids stay very close to us. It’s a big space and it looks ideal for kids to just run around, but it’s not a good idea.

The High Point:
Over lunch at a reasonably-priced café in the middle of the museum with a big selection of kid-friendly food, we pored over the museum map, talked about our favorite parts so far, and planned our next few hours in the museum.

The highlight for the kids was probably a tie between the Thomas look-alikes and the mail train. My husband loved taking photos and the Japanese bullet train (the Shinkansen), and I was fascinated by the exhibit about how different parts of the train evolved, and the section with railroad artifacts (such as the sign pictured below).

The Kids’ Take:
After 7 hours in a museum: “Aw, do we have to leave?”

The Bottom Line:
Allow enough time for this museum. Plan to have lunch there. Look at the museum map and events (science shows, performances, demonstrations, arts & crafts) to help organize your visit, because there are several huge rooms and even in a whole day we didn’t see everything. If it’s a nice day outside, work in time at the kids’ playground or use the picnic tables.

Madeline Jhawar lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids, and designs Italy itineraries for independent travelers.

April 16th, 2010 | by travelsavvymom 4 comments