Collection: North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Museum Collection has developed and evolved from the early days of the preservation society established in the later 1960s and draws together a vast range of materials and artefacts from the NER area. But for the enthusiasts who recorded visual memories of the days of steam, who diligently collected papers and artefacts, used their expertise to bring back the NYMR and who also joined societies to purchase rolling stock, the heritage railway would not have the Collection it does today.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The NYMRT Museum Collection is an essential part of the offer to our visitors and to ensure the story of the NYMR and the railways of the former North Eastern Area (NER) is preserved for future generations. The Trust strives towards the best practical standards of care of its Collections care through a combination of preventative and remedial conservation to ensure its long-term preservation. A major part of the Collection is in day-to-day use and operation, whether operating the train service or as part of the railway’s infrastructure. For these elements of the Collection, wear and tear will occur but be offset by regular maintenance and restoration: to demonstrate the living museum, it is vital that heritage locomotives, carriages and freight form a major portion of the fleet.

  The Collection focus relates to:

  • Railways in the geographical area of the former North Eastern Railway (that is to say the area of England bounded approximately by a line joining Berwick, Carlisle, Leeds, Doncaster and Hull).
  • The time period of interest is from the foundation of those railways to the present day.

  The National Railway Museum and many other museums and heritage railways across the UK have their own Collections with the NRM as a very useful source for any information which may need to be accessed relevant to other areas.

  Whilst the primary focus of the Collection is NER, this does not necessarily apply universally where the type may have been seen in this area but the specific example may not have been here, for example some wagons. The only exception to this might be locomotives, where they are taken based on their historic significance anywhere, not just the NER area.

  The Collection continues to be supplemented as new items are offered which fit with the Collection policy. Objects accepted for the Collection reflect both the historic and contemporary experience of the railway. A key addition to the history of the railway will be the results of a new project, Oral Histories, which will gather stories, memories and reflections from the latter days of steam and the early days of preservation in the local area from people who worked, lived near or used the railway. Contemporary items reflect the railway of today, for example in films and television programmes.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC