National Railway Museum

The wonderlab is emphatically not dumbing down, it's a very clever way of getting sub-10-yr old kids thinking about physics and mechanics.

 

Rather than slagging off people based on their qualifications, tell us specifically how you would like it to be done? What is it you want changed?

 

And that's the issue with adults, whose children (and grandchildren?) are long past primary school, opining on the value of specific styles of exhibition.

The other side of that is how the museum sets its boundaries. I've not been to York since Wonderlab opened, but if it is dealing in general principles (which is an excellent Science Museum objective), is it doing so in a way that makes sense in the context of railways?

 

I bet my technically-curious seven year old Godson would love it.

 

Former colleague of mine is friends with him - met him at Brentford/Kew

 

What is the actual purpose of the NRM, what is its reason for being, is it to preserve historic artifacts of a bygone age, and to tell the story of our railways, and how they have changed over the years, or is it something else ?
My view is that its educational, as well as being historic, for example, should it start with Rainhill, or the earliest forms of transport horse drawn, wagons etc? and tell the story of how the railways evolved and that's before you even reach the engines and coaches, the first railways were goods lines,
I haven't been to York for many years, so don't know what's on view now, when you walk in, what's the first display?
My view is that the collection, should have had funding, to have one of its engines in working order, not necessarily main line approved, as then some degree of authenticity could be retained, without fitting the modern safety systems, that would be needed, after all, being towed in steam, by another TOC, seems to be acceptable, between other sites, Its a shame no one from the NRM now posts on here, to hear how they think the museum should be, but a working engine, does give an additional attraction,

 

Hmm, I wonder why no-one from the NRM posts in here...?? I mean, without them, there's such a balanced discussion about how they should run their own museum, isn't there.

BTW do you always judge your visits to heritage railways or museums by the first thing you see?!

2 minutes of Googling found the NRM's objectives/vision.

 

When an organisation doesn’t try to defend itself from criticism, it seems to me that they don’t have any defence. Not just the NRM, the A1 Trust have never tried to explain what’s going on.

 

They might if you asked them directly. It’s unfair to expect them to monitor every little clump of social media, including this one.

 

I think Anthony Coulls used to post here. But who from an organisation would want to post here in an official capacity when as seen in the NYMR thread, it becomes circular posting spending all the time explaining the same thing over and over again. Wandering into the bear pit to be constantly told how to do your job by armchair experts who have their own ideological wants which don't match commercial realities.

 

It should also be remembered that many organisations have social media policies that may restrict their officers, members, staff etc in what they can post. You may not agree with those policies, but I can see why they get used.
Steve B

 

I think Anthony's reasons for walking away from this forum were entirely justified.
His being active here wasn't a part of his job, he posted as an individual whilst he found it an enjoyable place to be.

 

That's an easy assumption to make, but totally unjustified.

You need to think why any organisation *would* "defend" themselves on here. What would they gain from trying to persuade this small, selective audience? They've got better things to do with their paid time.

There seem to be plenty of vocal forum members with axes to grind about one organisation or another. Do you think any "official" response would change their opinions?

When an organisation *has* responded with evidence for their decisions, how many times has the original critic actually put their hand up and said "OK, I see why you did that now"?

 

Defend was probably not the right word, inform would be better

 

Anthony does seem to pop in various groups over on Facebook but not nominally or seemingly in an official capacity.