NRM’s Wonderlab will inspire museum visitors of all ages

REFERRING to Roger Backhouse’s letter concerning the National Railway Museum’s Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery in issue 297 (‘Does closing down NRM workshop risk losing sight of technology?’), this new part of the museum has been developed in conjunction with engineers and advisers who are working in the rail industry. They believe that one of the barriers to bringing new people and ideas into their industry can be outdated stereotypes and negative perceptions of engineering.

Wonderlab draws on the latest research, such as the Royal Academy of Engineering’s report, Thinking Like An Engineer.

The National Railway Museum is a museum and a visitor attraction; it is not a locomotive engineering facility.

Our aim is to reach and inspire as many visitors as possible and in the previous workshop, most people could only watch from a distance whereas the new gallery will mean the area is actually used and enjoyed by thousands of young people.

As you may know, historically significant aspects of the workshop will be preserved and the museum’s wider Vision 2025 development will sensitively reinvigorate many historic railway buildings throughout the site.

New maintenance areas are being developed which more closely match our needs and the prep bay remains open, enabling visiting locomotives to access and use the facilities. While Wonderlab is chiefly being developed for families and for children aged seven to 14, what we have found from Wonderlabs at our sister museums in Bradford and London is that visitors of all ages – and all levels of confidence and experience with science and technology – can enjoy and be moved by what they discover there.

I must strongly disagree with Roger’s conclusions regarding the museum sector and the outlook for the National Railway Museum.

Visitors have been returning in healthy numbers this year following the international coronavirus pandemic, and the museum ranks in the top 1% cent of TripAdvisor’s most popular attractions worldwide.

Rose Mockford, lead interactive gallery curator, National Railway Museum, York