YOU might think you’ve just had a busy Christmas. Pity this poor British Rail luggage handler, pictured in 1936 struggling under a veritable mountain of parcels and other luggage.

Somehow, he’s still managed to summon up a wry smile for the camera. We’re not sure the luggage handlers responsible for tackling the mounds of Christmas parcels unloaded from a train at King’s Cross and stacked on the platform ready to be loaded onto delivery vans would have managed even that, faced with the size of the task before them.

These are just of the 1,750,000 photographs held in the National Railway Museum’s archive – along with more than 11,000 posters, more than 1,000 paintings and over 2,300 prints and drawings.

Amongst them are many on a ‘seasonal’ theme – including a photograph of Euston Station decked out for Christmas in 1937, and passengers throwing their own impromptu Christmas party on a train in 1985.

There are also posters galore – including this cheery 1992 cartoon-style image, declaiming: “Whatever you’re doing this Christmas, it’s more enjoyable by train.”

Many of the images and other items in the NRM’s collection have never been on public display. But they are there for you to browse at your leisure if you visit the museum’s Search Engine library and archive centre.

The museum is open between Christmas and New Year, making it a great way to walk off that Christmas pud. Staff do ask, however, that if possible, if you intend to visit the Search Engine centre, you let them know in advance: email search.engine@nrm.org.uk or phone 01904 686235. A member of staff will then be able to meet you at the Search Engine archive to help you with your search.

You can get an excellent idea of the wealth of material available in the archive by browsing through the online catalogue, at: nrm.org.uk/ResearchAndArchive/archiveandlibrarycollections/PersonalBusinessAndOrg.aspx