THE Tim Peake exhibition at the National Railway Museum saw visitor numbers lift off.

According to official figures released this week, the exhibition, which displayed the capsule that transported the British astronaut to the International Space Station, was a huge draw.

January and February are traditionally quieter months for museums in general, but the museum bucked the trend recording an impressive rise in visitor numbers.

This boost is being attributed to the exhibition of Peake’s Soyuz space capsule, which was displayed on the Great Hall’s historic turntable.

The exhibition, which ended on March 8, also included a range of talks and activities.

In January, visitor figures rose by more than 8,000 year on year, which equates to around a 20 per cent increase, while in February, visitor numbers were up more than 22,000, an increase of around 33 per cent.

Jim Lowe, NRM head of operations, said: “The national tour of Tim Peake’s spacecraft has been a tremendous success with visitors young and old coming to see a piece of space history and to be inspired by Tim’s incredible journey.

“The tour demonstrates the benefits of being part of the Science Museum group and this would not have been possible without the help of our colleagues based at other sites.

“I would like to thank all our staff and visitors at the NRM and at Locomotion [the railway museum in Shildon, County Durham] for their support over the past six months.”

Locomotion, which displayed the capsule from November to January, also reported a huge rise in visitor numbers for the period of almost 200 per cent.

The capsule has now moved to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, where it will be on display alongside Peake’s Sokul KV-2 emergency space suit until May 13.

In a further piece of good news for the NRM, it was also named the most visited tourist attraction in Yorkshire by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) earlier this month - ranking 50th nationally.

Family activities for Easter include steam train rides and Flying Scotsman model making. See www.nrm.org.uk/planavisit/visityork/whatson for details.