I WOULD strongly challenge the assertion that our new interactive gallery, Wonderlab, is moving away from 'proper engineering' (The Press November 17: "NRM's Wonderlab will be a simplified fantasy").

The gallery is being developed in conjunction with engineers who work in today's rail industry.

They're telling us loud and clear that one of the barriers to entry into rail engineering is outdated stereotypes and perceptions of the industry.

The National Railway Museum is not a working engineering facility and our aim is to reach and inspire as many visitors as possible through active participation. In the Workshop as-was, visitors could only watch from a distance and equipment sat idle for long periods.

In contrast, Wonderlab will enable this area to be actively used and enjoyed by thousands of people every year.

Historically significant aspects of the workshop will be preserved and the wider Vision 2025 development will preserve and reinvigorate many historic railway buildings across the site.

I invite you to see Wonderlab for yourself when it opens in 2023, when we hope to have struck the right balance between celebrating the past while inspiring future generations.

Rose Mockford,

Lead interactive gallery curator,

National Railway Museum,

Leeman Road,

York

Please parents - buy lights for your kids' bikes

PLEASE can parents look out for their kids when they are using their bikes and buy them some lights. They must know they are going out on their bikes without any lights and are so hard to see. They are always dressed in black too and don’t seem to care about their own safety.

Janet Murphy,

Aldersyde House,

York

...YES, there are cyclists who behave dangerously. There are also pedestrians and those driving motor cycles, cars, vans, lorries, buses who can be a hazard for other road-users.

For example, I cycle cautiously both for my own and other people`s safety but have been knocked off my bike on three occasions by a pedestrian stepping into my path without looking and, yes, I do have a bell and use it when I have time to react.

Obviously I didn`t on those occasions. A motorised vehicle would have probably done more damage. If I witness a cyclist behaving badly I ask them not to give cycling a bad name.

In spite of a few rogue cyclists this means of getting about is carbon neutral, quiet, takes up little space and is good exercise. Please compare that with cars.

Rose Berl,

De Little Court,

Vine Street,

York

No 'sea change' in 25 years

THE map produced by so called Climate Central is virtually identical to the one published in York Press around 25 years ago under the headline “York by the Sea” when it was claimed we would be coastline dwellers within 20 years.

Another example of climate alarmists getting it completely wrong.

Matthew Laverack,

Eldon Street,

York

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