National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum opened in 1975 as the first national museum outside of London. Within the Science Museum Group family of museums, its role is to engage the broadest possible audience with the story of the train - the technology that brought to the world the era of universal transport for people and goods. With the opening of Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon, in 2004, the Museum's success in attracting a mass audience from long distances makes the NRM a leading player in the tourism economies of both Yorkshire and North East England.

The National Railway Museum has four objectives:

- Building, caring for and encouraging the use of the national rail collections

- Providing compelling visitor experiences of international standard at York and Shildon

- Delivering programmes and services for the widest range of learners

- Taking our programmes to diverse audiences nationwide

The Science Museum Group comprises the Science Museum London, the National Railway Museum, York; the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the National Media Museum, Bradford and Locomotion in Shildon. It is the world's pre-eminent museum in the field of science, technology, industry and medicine, serving some four and a half million people annually. The Museum is governed by a Board of Trustees, appointed by the Prime Minister, and is funded by grant-in-aid through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.