The National Railway Museum invited RailAdvent today (25th September) to York to see the official reopening of the Grade II listed Station Hall.

Station Hall is a former goods station built for the North Eastern Railway, with the National Railway Museum receiving a £10.5m grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Station Hall closed in 2023 for a refurbishment and a re-roof, which included fitting a thermally efficient roof to provide a weather-tight solution to keep the collection protected and provide a welcome atmosphere for visitors.

Whilst the roof work took place, the royal carriages remained in situ and were covered by scaffolding, solid steel sheeting and a membrane wrap to protect them.

Now reopened, Station Hall features a refreshed exhibition thanks to a £577,000 donation from the Friends of the National Railway Museum.

Craig Bentley, Director of the National Railway Museum, opened proceedings by saying that he was ‘grateful’ for the support shown to the museum whilst the project took place and said that this was just another step in the transformation of the National Railway Museum.

Secondly, Andrew McLean said that Station Hall is an important part of the museum and visitors have missed it during the two year closure.

Andrew reminded us that whilst some items were in Station Hall before, there are a number of new and exciting items to see.

What is there to see in the newly-refurbished Station Hall?

Well, for starters, there’s a WHSmith bookstall that was installed at London Waterloo in 1921 and photographs of Windrush migrants arriving from the Caribbean.

Returning to Station Hall are the Royal Carriages, which visitors can now have a close-up view of, as well as The Countess of York, which is a dining car that has been refurbished in order to provide afternoon tea.

We also managed to see Euston station clock, which has now been restored and takes centre stage at the new temporary entrance to the museum.

Also making its debut is Queen Victoria’s funeral train wreath, which is now on public display for the first time.

Finally, a third new exhibit is the WHSmith book stall, which is now fully restored after being in storage, with a display of some of the items that you could buy, including carriage keys and reading lights.

Also featured are a number of archive images, audio and video to tell the story of the railways, which are all great to see.

Craig Bentley said that the aim of the project is to inspire future engineers by being able to get up close to locomotives and carriages, as well as tell the story behind the people involved in running the railway.

When does the new Station Hall open to the public? It opens tomorrow, 26th September, with free entrance.

This weekend is also the National Railway Museum’s 50th birthday celebrations.

The NRM officially opened 50 years ago on the 27th September. The NRM is home to a number of locomotives, including Mallard and Flying Scotsman.

To celebrate, the museum, which has welcomed 40 million visitors to date, will allow visitors to see behind the scenes to previously unseen areas, talks and tours and family experiences, including access to Wonderlab.

A big thank you to the team at the National Railway Museum for inviting us to the official opening.