- Wikidata identifier:
- Q116738946
- Instance of:
- independent museum; transport museum
- Museum/collection status:
- Accredited museum
- Accreditation number:
- 422
- Persistent shareable link for this record:
- https://museumdata.uk/museums/q116738946/
- Object records:
- Yes, see object records for this museum
Collection-level records:
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Collection history (Collection development policy)
The origin of the Museum was an Exhibition to celebrate the Centenary of the opening of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in 1976, which gathered a number of items of equipment and small objects with a photographic display. It attracted interest and funding to convert a disused station building with wheel chair access for a permanent museum site which opened in 1978. The museum was recognised by the Museums & Galleries Commission and subsequently Arts Council England. A further development was the restoration of the former Furness Railway Signal Box in 2000. A two-stage programme to refurbish and extend the original Museum buildings achieved its first phase in 2015 and continued with a new Train Shed for rolling stock with an Archive Room which was completed and opened to the public in June 2017.
Source: Collection development policy
Date: 2022
Licence: CC BY-NC
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Collection overview (Collection development policy)
The Ravenglass Railway Museum has a collection of over 7,000 objects – the largest items being narrow gauge and miniature railways rolling stock and locomotives connected with the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in Cumbria dating from 1875 to the present. The Museum also holds library, archive and image collections of material about the Railway company, the associated Preservation Society and a large collection of narrow-gauge railway documents and images in the John Milner Collection. Significant objects are part of a 3ft gauge coach from the original railway and 15in gauge Bassett-Lowke 4-4-2 Synolda, 0-4-0 Katie, Internal Combustion Loco No 1 and Quarryman, with redundant wagons and coaches of historic interest that had a valuable role in the railway’s commercial operations. This is supported by a small collection of railway models representing the wider work of the Bassett-Lowke model company which converted the railway to its present form in 1915 and by a large collection of small objects and ephemera covering all aspects of railway and the economic activities associated with it.
Source: Collection development policy
Date: 2022
Licence: CC BY-NC