UK: Rail Business UK visits the Inspiration exhibition train, which is touring the network as part of the Railway 200 celebrations.
More than 200 000 people are expected to visit the Inspiration exhibition train which will be calling at around 60 locations on the rail network as part of the Railway 200 celebrations.
The travelling exhibition ‘tells the story of the development of the railway, but it is the future that is important’, Rail Minister Lord Hendy said when the train visited London Waterloo station on July 18.
Inspiration comprises four MkIII coaches housing an exhibition curated through a partnership between Network Rail and the National Railway Museum. It is supported by a £250 000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and funding from rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook.
The coaches are top-and-tailed by Railway 200 branded GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotives.
The Railway Firsts coach highlights significant events in railway development. While Railway 200 is inspired by the ’first steam-hauled, fare-paying passenger journey on a public railway’ at the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on September 27 1825, the display covers ancient Greece, the Wollaton wagonway and the Swansea & Mumbles passenger service of 1807. It notes that the demise of William Huskisson at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830 was the merely the first ‘well known’ railway fatality.
Visitors can test their engineering skills on interactive exhibits in the Wonderlab on Wheels coach, which is inspired by the National Railway Museum’s Wonderlab gallery.
There is a practical demonstration of wheel profiles, and an interactive game to show the programming techniques behind signalling systems.
A highlight of a visit is a sandpit with a train-set style railway projected on it. Visitors can shape the sand to create miniature cuttings and embankments to keep the trains moving, while trying to avoid the perils of landslides and flooding.
The focus is on young people, but ‘the toys are not just for kids’, emphasised Hendy.
The Your Railway Future coach is designed to encourage people to consider a career in rail, highlighting some of the less visible roles.
‘The railway is a fantastic industry to work in and this train is a wonderful way of inspiring the next generation’, said Network Rail Operations Director Tom Desmond. The train celebrates ‘a rich history and ambitious future’, and aims to ‘spread the message of what we do and what the railway is for’.
The final coach is the Partner Zone, where the content which will change as the train travels to different locations.
Hendy said the exhibition aims to ‘enthuse people about modern technology, and what the modern railway can do’. It aims to ‘use the past and use the present to demonstrate what the future can bring’, and reach people ‘miles away from the great museums in York and Shildon’.
Visits to the train are expected to last up to an hour. Tickets are free, but need to be prebooked. A virtual tour is also available for people unable to attend in person.
The train aims to provide ‘an unforgettable experience for hundreds of thousands of people across Britain, including many schoolchildren’, said Emma Roberts, Programme Manager for Railway 200. ‘It will excite, enlighten, entertain and inspire them to take a fresh look at the railway.’
