MORE NRM DISPOSALS? YORK REVIEW NEARS COMPLETION

Museum says audit ‘will ensure the right mix of operational locomotives and static exhibits’.

THIS REVIEW WILL ENABLE US TO FOCUS ON FUTURE COLLECTING

The National Railway Museum has not ruled out the possibility of disposing of more locomotives and stock, as its current collections review approaches completion.

The review, which follows on from a previous one (2016-17) that resulted in the de-accessioning of three steam locomotives, “will inform the creation of new operational and static rail vehicle strategies”.

The museum told Steam Railway on November 28: “The operational vehicle strategy 2019-2033 will be published and made publicly available before the end of the financial year. We expect to be able to provide the details of the static rail vehicle strategy later in the spring. “The operational vehicle strategy will encompass all three Science Museum Group sites where rail operations take place – at the National Railway

Museum in York, Locomotion in Shildon and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.”

The magazine posed questions to the museum, including whether the NRM was seeking to acquire new objects or dispose of any more items of rolling stock as part of the review. It responded: “It is not possible to answer all your questions until the strategy documents are published.”

Announcing the review earlier in 2018 (SR484), the NRM’s parent organisation, the Science Museum Group, said: “Like all major museums, we frequently add to and occasionally remove items from our collection. This review will enable us to focus on future collecting and may also identify objects that are no longer appropriate for the National Collection.”

Last month, the NRM said: “The review has been produced with the input of professional expertise from across the Group and is coordinated with the ambitious masterplan development projects planned and under way at each site.

“We are confident that the review will ensure that the National Railway Museum and Science Museum Group have the right mix of operational and static rail vehicles needed to tell the stories of the development of the railways, to manage the collection in a sustainable way and to continue to excite and inspire our visitors now and in the future.”