Railway museums UK: where to see historic trains

The best-known railway museum in the UK is the National Railway Museum in York, where general entry is free and the collection includes Mallard and a run of royal carriages. Its sister site, Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham, is free too. Beyond those two, STEAM in Swindon, Didcot Railway Centre in Oxfordshire and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester are all worth a trip, and Scotland and Wales have railway museums of their own.

Railway museums in the UK at a glance

Opening days and events change through the year, so check each museum's website before you set off.

The National Railway Museum, York

If you only visit one, make it this one. It's a short walk from York station, and the main halls are packed with locomotives from the earliest days of the railway to the modern era. The Great Hall is built around a turntable, and Station Hall is laid out like an old station, with carriages drawn up at the platforms. Give yourself most of a day. Mallard is here: the streamlined A4 that reached 126 mph in 1938, a speed record for steam that still stands. So are royal saloons used by Queen Victoria and later monarchs, and a Japanese bullet train, which surprises most first-time visitors.

Flying Scotsman belongs to the collection too, though it spends a lot of its time out on tour, so don't count on seeing it. Our guide to famous British locomotives has more on both engines.

Locomotion and Hopetown Darlington, County Durham

Locomotion at Shildon is the National Railway Museum's northern outpost, in a town that grew up around the Stockton and Darlington Railway's works. The main collection building is a long hall of engines and carriages, and like York, it's free to get in.

A short drive away, Hopetown Darlington (the museum once called Head of Steam) sits at North Road station on the original Stockton and Darlington route. The railway opened in 1825, which is why 2025 was celebrated as Railway 200.

Swindon, Didcot and the Great Western

Swindon was a Great Western Railway town, and STEAM is housed in buildings that were part of the old railway works. It tells the story of the GWR and the people who built and ran it, and it's within walking distance of Swindon station, so arriving by train feels right.

Didcot Railway Centre, run by the Great Western Society, is entered from Didcot Parkway station. It has engine sheds, a recreated branch line and regular steam days, when you can ride behind a locomotive on a short demonstration line.

Manchester and London

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester stands on the site of Liverpool Road station, the Manchester end of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830. Parts of the museum have been through major works in recent years, so check what's open.

London Transport Museum in Covent Garden is the place for Underground trains, trams and buses. Children tend to love it, and plenty of grown-ups do too.

Scotland and Wales

At Bo'ness, the Museum of Scottish Railways sits next to the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, so you can see the collection and then ride a heritage train. Glasgow's Riverside Museum covers all kinds of transport and includes locomotives.

In Wales, the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is at Wharf station in Tywyn, home of the Talyllyn Railway. For more lines to ride, see our heritage railways by region guide.

Railway museums as a gift

A day at a railway museum makes a good present for a train lover of any age, especially paired with the train journey there. Several museums sell memberships or annual passes, and heritage centres often offer footplate or driver experiences, which our guide to train experience gifts covers.

For something that lasts all year, there's TrainTicker: an amber LED board that shows the live departures from their own station, £199.99 with no subscription. You can add a gift note at checkout, and the free demo shows exactly what it looks like.