I am all for large museums having quality play space but let’s not forget what the £5m National Railway Museum Wonderlab will do (£5m Wonderlab plans for railway museum revealed, Press online, November 11).
It will take over what is a well-equipped railway engineering workshop used to repair historic railway locomotives including City of Truro, Flying Scotsman and Duchess of Hamilton. Visitors like the viewing gallery, an inspiration where proper engineering could be seen happening.
How ironical that this major museum of engineering heritage will soon have no workshop. With the management-speak museums now use the NRM claims Wonderlab will ‘seek to encapsulate the spirit of the space by inspiring visitors to make things work’.
All very well, but visitors’ chance to see real engineering in action will be gone forever. Historic machinery, some from York’s Carriage Works, will shortly be heading north to the Strathspey Railway. What a loss to York’s heritage, and how sad to see real engineering replaced by a simplified fantasy.
Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton
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