List of railway museums in the United Kingdom

List of railway museums in the United Kingdom is a list of railway museum

Railway museum

A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives , railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment.See List of railway museums...

s in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

England

Amberley Working Museum
Amberley Working Museum
Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre is a museum at Amberley, near Arundel in West Sussex, England.The museum was founded in 1979 by the Southern Industrial History Centre Trust and has previously been known as the Amberley Working Museum, Amberley Chalk Pits Museum or plain Amberley Museum.The museum...

, Arundel
Arundel
Arundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...

, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
Astley Green Colliery Museum
Astley Green Colliery Museum
The Astley Green Colliery Museum is a museum run by the Red Rose Steam Society in Astley near Tyldesley in Greater Manchester, England. Before becoming a museum, the site was a working colliery that produced coal from 1912 to 1970; it is now protected as a Scheduled Monument...

, Tyldesley
Tyldesley
Tyldesley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies an area north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, east-southeast of Wigan and west-northwest of the city of Manchester...

, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
Bahamas Locomotive Society
Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Roundhouse & Railway Centre, until 1948 known as Staveley Roundhouse & Train Centre, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire .-History:...
Beamish museum
Beamish Museum
Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum is an open-air museum located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, County Durham, England. The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early...
Bere Ferrers railway station
Bere Ferrers railway station
Bere Ferrers station on the Tamar Valley Line is situated near the village of Bere Ferrers in Devon. The station is on the former Southern main line between Exeter and Plymouth via Okehampton...
Bideford Railway Heritage Centre, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
Bishop's Castle Railway Museum
Bluebell Railway
Bluebell Railway
The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for nine miles along the border between East and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between and , with an intermediate station at .The railway is managed and run largely by volunteers...
Bressingham Steam Museum, Norfolk
Bristol Harbour Railway and Industrial Museum
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, in the far depths of "Metro-land", about 5 miles west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two foot-bridges, one of...

, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
Coleford Great Western Railway Museum
Coleford Great Western Railway Museum
Coleford Great Western Railway Museum is a railway museum located in Coleford, Gloucestershire, England. The museum was founded in 1988. Based in the former GWR Goods Shed along the Coleford Railway. There was also another station situated at Coleford, it was opened by the Severn and Wye Railway...

, Coleford, Gloucestershire
Coleford, Gloucestershire
Coleford is a small market town in Gloucestershire, England in the west of the Forest of Dean with a population of 8,351 . It is situated some four miles east of the Welsh border, and is close to the Wye Valley, a popular walking and canoeing area...
Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, also known as Head of Steam, is located on the 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was the world's first steam powered passenger railway. Run by Darlington Borough Council the museum is located in the northern suburbs of Darlington in the...

(Recently renamed: Head of Steam)
Devon Railway Centre
Devon Railway Centre
The Devon Railway Centre is in the village of Bickleigh in Mid Devon, England, at the former Cadeleigh railway station on the closed Great Western Railway branch from Exeter to Dulverton, also known as the Exe Valley Railway. The Centre operates a 2ft gauge passenger railway and has the largest...

, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre, located in the town of Didcot in the English county of Oxfordshire, is based around the site of a comprehensive "engine shed" which became redundant after the nationalisation of the UK railways, due to the gradual changeover from steam to diesel motive power.-Description:The...
Doncaster Railway Works
Doncaster Works
Doncaster railway works is in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.Always referred to as "the Plant", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough...

, Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
East Anglian Railway Museum
East Anglian Railway Museum
The East Anglian Railway Museum is located at Chappel and Wakes Colne railway station in Essex, which is situated on the former Great Eastern Railway branch line from Marks Tey to Sudbury...
Great Western Railway Museum (Swindon Steam Railway Museum)
Swindon Steam Railway Museum
STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...
Hollycombe Steam Collection
Hollycombe Steam Collection
The Hollycombe Steam Collection is a collection of steam-powered vehicles, rides and attractions based near Liphook in Hampshire. The collection includes fairground rides, a display farm and two railways.- History :...
Hopetown Carriage Works
Hopetown Carriage Works
Hopetown Carriage Works, built in 1853 by Joseph Sparkes in Darlington, County Durham), England, was a workshop of the world's first publicly subscribed passenger railway, the 1825-63 Stockton and Darlington Railway, and also of the subsequent railway companies into which the SD&R was absorbed....
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses a museum of water supply and a collection of water pumping steam engines. The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage...
Kidderminster Railway Museum
London Transport Museum
Locomotion
Shildon Locomotion Museum
Shildon Locomotion Museum is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum is a branch of the National Railway Museum , which is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry...

, Shildon
Shildon
Shildon is a town in County Durham, in England. It is situated 2 miles to the south east of Bishop Auckland and 11 miles north of Darlington. It is 13 miles away from Durham, 23 miles from Sunderland and 23 miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne...

, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
Mangapps Railway Museum
Mangapps Railway Museum
The Mangapps Railway Museum is a heritage railway located near Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. The stretch of standard gauge track and museum are owned and operated by the Jolly family assisted by a dedicated staff of volunteers...
Market Drayton Railway Preservation Society
Monkwearmouth Station Museum
Monkwearmouth Station Museum
Monkwearmouth Station Museum served Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, England. The railway station was closed in March 1967 as a result of the Beeching Axe and featured a restored booking office dating from the Edwardian period....

, Sunderland
Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway is a heritage railway in Suffolk, which in its heyday it was a branch line which ran for just from Haughley to Laxfield, Suffolk. The line became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1924 and the last trains ran on 26 July 1952...

, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
Middleton Railway
Middleton Railway
The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd...

, Leeds
City of Leeds
The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell,...

, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
Midland Railway - Butterley
Midland Railway - Butterley
The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway, formerly known until 2004 as the Midland Railway Centre, at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire.-Overview:...

, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
Moseley Railway Trust
Moseley Railway Trust
The Moseley Railway Trust is a major British collection of industrial narrow gauge locomotives and other equipment. It originally had its base in south Manchester, but has completely relocated to the Apedale Country Park near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire where a passenger railway is now open...
Museum of Rail Travel
Museum of Rail Travel
The Museum of Rail Travel at Ingrow, England is operated by the Vintage Carriages Trust , a charity based just north of Ingrow railway station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in West Yorkshire...

, Ingrow (West), Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
National Railway Museum
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
National Tramway Museum
National Tramway Museum
The National Tramway Museum, at Crich, in Derbyshire, England, is situated within Crich Tramway Village, a period village containing a pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop, including the tram depots. The village is also home to the Eagle Press, a small museum dedicated to Letterpress Printing including...

, Crich
Crich
Crich is a village in Derbyshire in England. It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Village, and at the summit of Crich Hill above, a Memorial Tower for those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly in World War I.Built in 1923 on the site of an...

, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
North Ings Farm Museum
North Woolwich Old Station Museum
North Woolwich Old Station Museum
The North Woolwich Old Station Museum was a small railway museum in East London. It was housed in what was the original Great Eastern Railway terminal station building at North Woolwich railway station. The building was in use as a ticket office until 1979 when it was replaced by a more austere...
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by George Stephenson as a means of opening up trade routes inland from the then important seaport of Whitby. The line...

(Reg. No. 290)
Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
The Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust operates a mile long heritage railway line at Hunsbury Hill, south-west of Northampton. The line is mainly dedicated to freight working, featuring many sharp curves and steep gradients which were typical of the industrial railway, but rides are...
Pendon Museum
Pendon Museum
Pendon Museum, located in Long Wittenham near Didcot, Oxfordshire, England, displays scale models of typical scenes on the Great Western Railway of the 1920s centred on working scale model railways....
Ribble Steam Railway
Ribble Steam Railway
The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston Docks,...
The Railway Age
The Railway Age
The Crewe Heritage Centre, formerly the Crewe Railway Age is a railway museum, located in Crewe, England. The Railway Age was rebranded to its original name of Crewe Heritage Centre in early 2008...
Rushden Station Railway Museum
Rushden Station Railway Museum
Rushden Transport Museum, formerly the Rushden Station Railway Museum, is a small railway museum in East Northamptonshire.It is housed in the original Rushden railway station, which was on the Midland Railway's Wellingborough to Higham Ferrers branch. The collection includes historical material on...
Rutland Railway Museum
Rutland Railway Museum
Rutland Railway Museum now trading as Rocks by Rail: The Living Ironstone Museum is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated NE of Oakham, in Rutland, England.-Overview:...

, Rutland
Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
Shildon Locomotion Museum
Shildon Locomotion Museum
Shildon Locomotion Museum is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum is a branch of the National Railway Museum , which is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry...
Shillingstone Railway Project
Shillingstone Railway Project
The Shillingstone Railway Project is a heritage railway project based at Shillingstone railway station on the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. It is supported by the North Dorset Railway Trust...

, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust
Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust
The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust operates a railway museum at Midsomer Norton railway station and plans to run passenger trains south towards Chilcompton in the near future. It should not be confused with the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust at Washford railway station. The Midsomer...
Southall Railway Centre
Southall Railway Centre
Southall Railway Centre is a railway heritage centre at Southall in west London, near to Southall railway station and the Grand Union Canal. It is run by the GWR Preservation Group Limited .-History:...
Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway
Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway
The Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway project aimed to re-open the closed railway from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire to Honeybourne railway station for main-line connection...
Steam - Museum of the Great Western Railway
Swindon Steam Railway Museum
STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, also known as Swindon Steam Railway Museum, is located at the site of the old railway works in Swindon, England – Wiltshire's 'railway town'...

, Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
Stephenson Railway Museum
Stephenson Railway Museum
The Stephenson Railway Museum is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums on behalf on North Tyneside Council, and is located at Middle Engine Lane in North Shields, England....

, North Shields
North Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
The Railway Age
The Railway Age
The Crewe Heritage Centre, formerly the Crewe Railway Age is a railway museum, located in Crewe, England. The Railway Age was rebranded to its original name of Crewe Heritage Centre in early 2008...

, Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
Tyseley Locomotive Works
Walthamstow Pump House Museum
Walthamstow Pump House Museum
The Pump House Steam and Transport Museum is a museum in Walthamstow focusing on the pioneering achievements in road, rail, air and sea transport in the River Lea valley from the early 19th century...

Scotland

Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway
Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway
The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is a Heritage railway in Falkirk, Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, and operates some 5 miles of track, virtually the entire Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway that became part of the former North British Railway on the Firth...
Caledonian Railway (Brechin)
Caledonian Railway (Brechin)
The Caledonian Steam Railway Ltd is a private limited company formed by a group of steam railway enthusiasts, the Brechin Railway Preservation Society, with the object of operating a railway service on the former Caledonian Railway line between Brechin and Montrose, Angus, Scotland...
Keith and Dufftown Railway
Keith and Dufftown Railway
The Keith and Dufftown Railway is a heritage railway in Scotland, running for from Keith Town railway station, Keith to Dufftown railway station, Dufftown via Drummuir ....
Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway
Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway
The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway, a gauge railway in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, is laid on the trackbed of the former Leadhills and Wanlockhead Branch of the Caledonian Railway which led off the main line between and Glasgow at Elvanfoot.- Overview :...
Scottish Industrial Railway Centre
Scottish Industrial Railway Centre
The Scottish Industrial Railway Centre is an Industrial Heritage museum operated by the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group. The centre owns a number of standard gauge steam and diesel locomotives and an extensive collection of photographs.- History :...
Scottish Railway Preservation Society
Scottish Railway Preservation Society
The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The Society was formed in 1961, and it has been actively collecting and displaying railway artifacts of Scottish significance ever since...
Strathspey Railway
Alford Valley Railway

Wales

Cambrian Railways Society
Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is a purpose-built museum dedicated to narrow gauge railways situated at the station of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales....

– Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
Conwy Valley Railway Museum
Conwy Valley Railway Museum
The Conwy Valley Railway Museum is located at Betws-y-Coed railway station, Betws-y-Coed, North Wales, on the site of the old railway goods yard.-Museum:...

, Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English 'bed-hus' - i.e. a bead-house - a house of prayer, or oratory...
Griffithstown Railway Museum
Griffithstown Railway Museum
Griffithstown Railway Museum was a railway memorabilia museum located in Griffithstown, Torfaen, South Wales. It was housed in a former Great Western Railway goods shed dating from 1879, adjacent to the former Griffithstown railway station....
Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in Wales.In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant family , owners of the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda...

England

Scotland

Wales

See also