The National Railway Museum has secured sponsorship from Eversholt Rail for its Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery for the next five years.
Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery, which opens this summer, is designed to ignite curiosity in engineering and rail through hands-on learning. The gallery includes exhibits, art installations, as well as live experiments facilitated by the museum's explainer team. This will be the most significant family offering since the museum opened in 1975.
There are other successful Wonderlab galleries within the Science Museum Group, including at the Science Museum in London and the Science and Media Museum in Bradford. The gallery at the National Railway Museum follows the same concept, focusing on engineering, and linking hands-on exhibits to real-life examples from the railways and the ever-expanding technology that is influencing our futures.
The new gallery is part of the museum's Vision 2025 masterplan project that is designed to transform the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion in Shildon. Vision 2025 includes a new collection building at Shildon called New Hall that will house over 40 additional vehicles, and a new building at the National Railway Museum called Central Hall that will be dedicated to telling the story of future innovation.
The project also includes improving the outdoor and indoor facilities, and the refurbishment of Station Hall to create a world-class experience for visitors.
Support for Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery is coming from The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and the Holbeck Charitable Trust.
Tickets for Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery will be available to book soon at Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery | National Railway Museum.
Mary Kenny, Eversholt Rail Chief Executive Officer, said: “It is vitally important for our industry to be working together to fire the imagination of the younger generation and inspire them to pursue careers in the railway industry. That is why we are delighted to be supporting the National Railway Museum with this fantastic new gallery. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the museum at such an exciting time in their Vision 2025 project.”
Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum, said: “We are grateful to Eversholt Rail for their continued support as we further extend our partnership with them, through their sponsorship of Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery.
“Due to open in the summer, Wonderlab will feature around 18 interactives and artworks, all with an engineering and technology theme as we aim to inspire the next generation of railway engineers and innovators.”
When I used to go to the Rail Museum, I would always go to the old gallery to watch the engineers at work. Now sadly that is all gone, to be replaced by another exhibition area.