NRM Robots Live!

We went to the National Railway Museum in York for their Robots Live! exhibit back in March (2013, in case you are reading this in the far distant future). The exhibit was for one weekend only and featured lots of different robots.

J, something is sneaking up on you!

The people from Robot Wars had an arena set up with battles every hour or so. We watched one. It wasn't too scary, except for the poor quality of my cell phone pictures and the very loud noises.

Battle arena

Robot repair shop

The other star attraction was Skeletron, a rope-climbing robot. But that is not all that he does...check out this video (also of dubious quality, next time I will remember the regular camera!).



A Dalek also wandered around an enclosed area. We could not get close enough for a passable picture or a video. He was much larger than I imagined he would be in real life.

If Robots Live! comes to your neighborhood science or industry museum, definitely check it out!

More National Railway Museum, York

It took almost a year for us to go back to the National Railway Museum in York. The museum is huge, with more than enough to see in a day. This time we visited the ride-on train, the playground, and the royal carriage exhibit.

The lion of the rails

Naturally we saw a lot of train cars when we were there. On our way to the train ride we admired some of the nicer cars.

Fancy rail car

J and a car

Old-fashioned Yorkshire coach car

Teddy the engine

The train ride was pretty cheap, 50p per person. The ride wasn't very long but was very fun, with plenty of things to see along the way.

Family on the train

Ready to ride

A roadside garden

A track sign

Willow tunnel

The whistle stop

Our engine

Right by the train ride is the playground. J and L insisted on visiting. They had a good time.

A train to play on

A ticket office to play in

A slide to ride down

We went back in the building and had a snack. I tried the very yummy Yorkshire ginger cake.

A good snack

Then we saw a collection of royal rail cars. Several samples from the past 100 years were on display, including Queen Mary's Salon. Queen Mary used the car throughout the 1900s. Wanting everything to be up to date, she had modern furniture and electric conveniences like fans and radiators added.

Queen Mary's Salon

Inside her salon

King Edward's Salon also features many modern conveniences. Used in the early 1900s, he had his train car modeled after his royal yacht. He even included a smoking room.

The bedroom

The royal bathroom on a train!

Nearby luggage on carts

It was a fun visit with guests from the States.

National Railway Museum, York

I took the children by bus to the National Railway Museum in York. This museum is the largest indoor train museum in the world, featuring dozens of engines and cars from the fine tradition of the English railway system.

The first thing the children headed for was a familiar face, Thomas the Tank Engine. Lucy enjoyed riding in his engine, though he didn't actually go anywhere.

She doesn't have the right conductor's uniform

We went from there to the main room where most of the engines are housed. Some of the cars looked quite old when the system was changing from horse-drawn coaches to railway carriages.

The Missing Link!

Another highlight was walking underneath an engine. The children loved going through the tunnel. They never looked up at the undercarriage though! We went through twice.

Check out this cool tunnel!

Lucy stops Jacob from going the wrong way!

They also had a bridge for crossing railroad track safely. These are found throughout the country and especially at railway stations where they provide access to the different platforms.

Ads you can't avoid

Lucy, sad that the top of the bridge has no ads

Jacob, glad that no ads block his view

In a side room (which is makes it sound small, but it contained an engine and lots and lots of items), the Flying Scotsman exhibit is located. The Flying Scotsman provided the first non-stop rail service between London and Edinburgh in 1928. A few years later it was the first locomotive to have officially reached the speed of 100 mph. We saw lots of china, tools, model trains, signs, and other random items related to the train.

Models and bric-a-brac

Good advice whenever you make an exit

The engine on display (not the actual Flying Scotsman) looked quite impressive.

This was dreamy according to Jacob

By the engine were a bunch of lockers. When Jacob opened one, inside were pictures of a worker on the train. An audio track started describing the life and work of the employee. Jacob thought Lucy would enjoy the story again and again, so he tried to help her out.

Or maybe he was trying to stick her in?

Back in the main hall, the museum had a Japanese passenger car that we walked through. We couldn't read any of the signs, but the chairs were quite comfortable.

Looking for a good seat

Riding in comfort

Jacob was fascinated by the train simulator ride. We didn't ride it but we watched from outside. Maybe on our next visit we'll try it out.

Can I get one ride?

A small section of the Chunnel (the tunnel between England and France) was on display as well. The children were not interested as you can see in the picture.

At first, I thought this was a Stargate prototype

Lucy was looking at a ride-on bus which she wanted to try out. It was fun for her. Jacob enjoyed being a passenger.

Lucy is about to honk at the pedestrian in front of her

Lucy asked to have a snack. We got in a line which wasn't too long. Jacob said he wanted to go potty. We wandered off to the potty. By the time we got back, the snack line was five times as long. We waited until we could buy some cookies and juice. We found a nice little table and refueled for the trip home.

The visit was fun but we didn't make it to the outdoor play area. Supposedly it is a lot of fun. We'll come back in warmer weather. The nice part of the museum (in addition to being easily accessible by park and ride bus) is the cost: free. It turns out that he best things in life are free!