Strathspey gifted machines from National Railway Museum’s workshop

FIFTEEN working machines from the National Railway Museum’s York workshop were moved to the Strathspey Railway before Christmas.

The machines have become redundant as part of the museum’s plan to create its new £5 million Wonderlab gallery in the workshop space. Due to open in spring 2023, the family-friendly gallery will feature up to 20 interactive exhibits with a rail engineering theme.

The machines gifted to the Strathspey include a vertical borer, a horizontal borer, a Holbrook lathe, a Lang lathe, toolcutter grinders, a shaper, a slotter, a planner, a milling machine, surface grinder, a radial arm drill, and a bench drill.

An NRM statement said: “The Strathspey Railway workshop has progressed over the years to be able to undertake most machining jobs, in-house boiler overhauls and repairs, and heavy mechanical overhauls.

“The NRM machines will enable tasks to be completed more quickly and more easily, and will help keep heritage skills alive by helping with training schemes for apprentices.

“They are also Imperial machines, which are hard to find in such good condition. As a result, Strathspey will be one of the best-equipped workshops in the area.”

The NRM kept a significant number of machines for use in the museum’s new maintenance facilities or at Locomotion in Shildon.

As part of the Wonderlab development, locomotive maintenance facilities will be retained on site for museum use, with a prep bay for visiting locomotives to enable heritage tours to continue.