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3 plans of the Science Museum's Southern Galleries

1908-1912
Rushes / 08/2005 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Including shots of the site internal plus external exhibits, and visitors, shunting King Feisal outside the collections building

MiniDV Rushes 'Locomotion, August 2005'

2005-07-31
Rushes / 08/2005 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Including shots of the site internal and external exhibits and visitors shunting King Feisal outside the collections building

MiniDV Rushes 'Locomotion, August 2005'

2005-07-31
Filmed in June 2004

VHS videotape 'Royal mail terminal'

2004
Rushes / 10/10/2003 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Erecting the steelwork, the collections building

MiniDV Rushes 'Shildon, Locomotion construction, 3'

2003-10-09
Rushes / 18/09/2007 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Pressing the backend of Flying Scotsman's boiler at Pridhams boilermakers Tavistock, Devon, pressing the backend

MiniDV Rushes 'Flying Scotsman's boiler backend, 2'

2007-09-17
Rushes / 05/08/2004 / Approaching Scarborough, at the turntable, departing Scarborough

MiniDV Rushes 'Flying Scotsman'

2004-08-04
Rushes / 27/07/2005 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Flying Scotsman at the Scarborough station turntable

MiniDV Rushes 'Flying Scotsman July 2005'

2005-07-26
02-05/2005 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Working on crown stays (15/02/2005), burning inside smoke box (10/02), Inside boiler (02/03), Cylinder boring (12/04), Cylinder boring (18/05)

MiniDV 'Flying Scotsman 2004-2005'

2005-04-30
Rushes / 26/02/2009 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Interview with Dennis Hartley, WW2 (WWII; World War 2) wartime memories, working in movement control in the London docks, interviewed by Lynn Patrick

MiniDV 'Dennis Hartley 1'

2009-02-26
Tape 4A / 09/2006 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / RETB Inverness rushes / Continuation of cab ride from Garve to Loch Carron

MiniDV 'RETB Inverness, 4A'

2006-08-31
Rushes / 31/08/2004 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Scarborough to York, window views, Flying Scotsman passes Howsham gates

MiniDV Rushes 'Flying Scotsman'

2004-08-30
Rushes / 19/07/2005 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Scarborough station Class 58's, platform scenes, on train Alan Pegler, boys birthday party, shop York station

MiniDV Rushes 'Flying Scotsman to Scarborough'

2005-07-18
Tape 7A / 09/2006 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / RETB Inverness rushes / Steve Muirhead interview, Inverness Signal box RETB

MiniDV ' RETB Inverness, 7A'

2006-08-31
Rushes / 26/02/2009 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Interview with Dennis Hartley, WW2 (WWII; World War 2) wartime memories, working in movement control in the London docks, interviewed by Lynn Patrick

MiniDV ' Dennis Hartley 2'

2009-02-26
Plaque, commemorating No 7 Radio School, Royal Air Force Signal Service, signed by Chester herald 8"x11"

Plaque, commemorating No 7 Radio School

194-
Framed and glazed coloured plan of Kensington Gore Estate of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, mounted with a printed description.

Coloured plan of Kensington Gore Estate of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851

1878
(1910). One framed and glazed coloured plan, mounted with printed description, of Kensington Gore Estate of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851.

(1910). One framed and glazed coloured plan

Letters private. Secretary's Office, Division of Science. Department of Science & Art [being the out-letterbook of Lyon Playfair as secretary to the division, covering period 1854 Jan to 1856 Dec. He was secretary of the science division from the Science & Art Department's creation in 1853 and of the united department from 1855 to 1858]

Letters private, Secretary's Office, Division of Science. Department of Science & Art

1854-1856
Oral history interview with Alan Willis conducted and recorded by Alison Kay on 13 November 2014, at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 31 minutes. Alan Willis’ father was George Owen Willis (GW), born in Bromwich, Midlands in 1896, who was a train ambulance employee in World War 1. He worked on British trains only and not on trains on the continent. Alan Willis (AW) recounts the work of his father on ambulance trains. Childhood and family background of George Willis. How GW joined the war efforts in the ambulances, Royal Army Medical Core; photographs taken by GW; how GW recounted working on ambulance train to AW; work of GW on ambulance trains, how wounded were loaded on ambulance trains at Dover; relationships and socialisation with others on the ambulance trains; air raids impact on ambulance train, more risks in Dover; GW being promoted to Sargent; no death on board the train; how they dealt with infectious diseases, barrier nursing; shell shocked soldiers; medical orderlies on trains, nurses; how serious and less serious cases were placed on board of train; operations likely done on continental trains, not on UK ambulance trains; living on board the train; how GW met is future wife; after the war, GW career at health department Bournemouth, barrier nursing; whether GW kept in touch with people met on ambulance train, meeting Wilfred Owen; what AW remembers of a book of messages and drawings from ambulance trains patients and colleagues which has been lost

Alan Willis interviewed by Alison Kay

2014-11-13
Oral history interview with Don Collins conducted and recorded by Tony Steadman on 22 January 2015 at the interviewee’s home. Duration: 34 minutes. How he started volunteering at NRM, interest in railways, involvement with Friends of NRM (FNRM); Information Points, managed by Clare Evans; started volunteering in 1995; career as civil servant, worked at Chilwell, moved to York; [00:05:00] volunteer recruitment interview with Clare Evans, social aspects of volunteering; knowledge of railways; training with visitor experience courses; [00:10:00] evacuation instruction; miniature railway; training with Richard Gibbon; diesel hydraulic power; [00:15:00] difficult to start engine; took over roster; top and tail with two locomotives and two crew; very flexible volunteers; [00:20:00] new layout needed more drivers; started in 2015; [break in recording] trained as a guard; passed stricter exams for guarding; [00:25:00] Volunteer Awards event at Christmas; relationship with explainers, not so much affinity now due to their change in role; [00:30:00] help from staff in early days; not so much now; 20 years a volunteer; change in ways volunteers are managed, supervised, now use team leaders [00:34:12] [end of interview]

Don Collins interviewed by Tony Steadman

2015-01-22
Oral history interview with John Charlesworth conducted and recorded by Tony Steadman on 24 February 2015, in the mess room of the Miniature Railway team at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 34 minutes. How he was introduced to railways; volunteering at Middleton Railway; member of the Friends of the National Railway Museum (FNRM), joined in 1977 on information points; rigidity of staff at museum; 1985 helped with work on Tuesday night restoring the Duchess of Hamilton locomotive (DOH); [00:05:00] career, worked on maintenance at power stations, hot riveting and air drills, lived in Selby; 1988 footplate ride on Green Arrow; support crew on DOH on main line; [00:10:00] miniature railway and working with public, Richard Gibbon, increased numbers, driver training for miniature railway, started charging, change, replacement of tracks; [00:15:00] miniature railway originally thought of as a toy, changed when charges came in; Deltic introduced on miniature railway, run round; 2014 rebuild; volunteer age differences; [00:20:00] recruitment of new drivers; outside examiners; everyone a driver; difficult passengers; [00:25:00] cataloguing with John Peck; drawing of accident; preparing standard gauge locomotives; fireman during day; [00:30:00] not so much to do at present, commenting on open spaces in Station Hall; believes there is potential for more volunteer involvement; enjoyed volunteering [ 00:34:14] [end of interview]

John Charlesworth interviewed by Tony Steadman

2015-02-24
Oral history interview with Bob Cannings conducted and recorded by Chris Kinchin-Smith on 22 November 2019, at the interviewee’s home. Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes. Personal background, family, childhood, school (1936-1939), choir, job at railway station book stall, lad porter, grade 2 porter; Second World War (WW2) blitz memories; [00:04:00] reserved occupation; Salisbury temporary guard; [00:05:00] after WW2, Bristol East shunting 1945; signalman at Freshford 1946, Bath Hampton West 1947, Bath Spa 1949, train details; [00:07:00] railway career evolution, clerical exam 1962, Bath Road Depot, depot work, rostering job 1974; retirement 1990; [00:08:00] reasons for joining railway, interest in railways, wages, no previous family railway members, GWR a good company; [00:09:20] personal views of Nationalisation, not supportive, enjoyed working for British Rail (Great Western), good friends made; [00:10:30] incidents during career; personal views of HS2, Somerset to Dorset lines, dieselisation compared with electrification; [00:13:00] personal life, marriage in 1949, 3 daughters, details about wife, widower in 1995, family details, grandchildren and great grandchildren; activities since retirement, walking, choir member; memories of father, NUR member, staff association; [00:18:50] further incidents when was signalman; replacing bridge in Bath 1959, lorry hitting a bridge incident, 1962 Boxing Day snow memories, Open Days at Bath; [00:22:20] managers and people he worked for, Bath Road, Chief Clerk, Area Manager; interview for rostering Job; most job satisfaction at Freshford, staff and colleagues at Freshford and Bath station; [00:27:00] Bath Spa Signal Box; Paddington, visit and access; [00:28:20] looking at 1959 Bath Spa photograph, taking of the photograph, signal box description, view description; [00:30:30] safety incidents; Bath to Bristol train accident and aftermath; experience as a first aider, first aid competitions, London safety competition; [00:34:00] involvement with collisions/derailments; 3.50 from Chippenham incident, Freshford derailment, 7.45 Paddington to Bristol incident; [00:37:10] other issues, complaints about night trains, coal train incident; [00:39:10] reduction in goods trains; Bath trains; people he met; [00:41:00] working at Salisbury; brake van issues, Westbury problems using a banker, good crowd of colleagues; lodging issues, going home on days off; [00:44:40] memorabilia he kept, GWR watch, signalling manual; [00:46:00] Intercity 125 introduction; “shunt horse” story; fish trains during the War; Indian Army mule train; horsebox traffic; [00:52:30] Bath Station; goods shed, engine shed, inspector’s house, bridge office, canal office, signal and telegraph office; [00:54:00] summing up; retirement, pleased to leave, keeping fit, travelling, memories of Switzerland, visit to USA, visit to Canada, visit to Scandinavia [01:03:17] [end of interview]

Bob Cannings interviewed by Chris Kinchin-Smith

2019-11-22
Oral history interview with Gordon Reed conducted and recorded by Tony Steadman on 24 February 2015, in the mess room of the Miniature Railway team at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 39 minutes. Childhood, Northumberland, old LNER route, early interest in railway, family members working on railways, school; apprenticeship as boiler smith, at Darlington Works 1948; engines built at Darlington works, comparison with Doncaster works; interview for apprenticeship, starting as trade apprenticeship in boiler shop; what was a premium apprenticeship, better education; work as apprentice in boiler shop [00:06:30] National Service, Royal Engineers, railway operated squadron, unit boiler smith; end of National Service, family in Bishop Auckland, 1956, getting a job in a steam shed, people no longer interested to work with steam engines; at age 25 became boiler examiner; meeting future wife, her railway family background [00:10:00] 1960s end of steam, Dr Beeching, closure of railway line through Bishop Auckland, impact on shed, 1964 closure of the steam shed, transfer to depot in Dinsdale, became relayer, then rail welding; explaining relaying work;1965, Leeds district welding inspector; how staff was treated by the railways, different railway staff statuses, high risk and low risk jobs, difference in grades and salaries; life in Leeds, West Riding district, job as district welding inspector; work culture; [00:16:00] 1975 Chief Welding Inspector, York BR Headquarter, until mid 1980s; 1987, starting volunteering at the National Railway Museum, talk with Richard Gibbon, installing permanent way exhibition in Great Hall; volunteering in NRM workshop with John Peck, supervised by Richard Gibbon; joining workshop team, staff and volunteers; differences between boiler exam and boiler inspection; work on O4, 1 day a week volunteering, staying over night in camping coach, change for guest house; emotions of being back in a firebox; [00:21:00] colleague who repaired snow plough at Locomotion; health and safety conditions at beginning of volunteering; relationship with Helen Ashby; presence of security staff at museum; trips with V2; Flying Scotsman boiler work, Scarborough Flyer trips out, footplate days; [00:25:35] Working with Ms Parkinson; Flying Scotsman riveting work, with Charlie Bird, nameplate; challenges around Flying Scotsman repairs; meeting people tanks to volunteering; receiving volunteer award for repairs on City of Truro, Railfest 2012, details of repairs done on boiler with female assistant, trial runs; [00:32:00] West Auckland train, reference to Snowdrift at Bleath Gill British Transport Films; details of job on BR in 1990 before retirement; volunteering one day a week, then fortnightly; [00:34:15] Difference between volunteering front of house or in workshops; current workshop work; ongoing restauration of Flying Scotsman; also volunteering on Keighley and Worth Valley Railway at Haworth [00:38:43] [end of interview]

Gordon Reed interviewed by Tony Steadman

2015-02-24
2022 transfer of NSMM Historic Public Records to NSMM Corporate Archive under the Public Records Act. As a public body SMG has a statutory obligation to permanently preserve its historic public records and make them accessible to the public. These files have been selected for permanent preservation as historic public records. As a Place of Deposit under the Public Records Act, the NSMM Archive can accept the organisation’s own public records. The process of transferring the permanent records to Archives will mean that the files become part of the SMG Archive collections, as formally accessioned items. It consists of 430 corporate files, relating to the NSMM site. The corporate files are listed in spreadsheets available for loading into ADLIB.

2022 transfer of NSMM Historic Public Records to NSMM Corporate Archive under the Public Records Act

Oral history interview with Glynn Waite conducted and recorded by Bob Gwynne on 22 September 2017 at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 2 hours 9 minutes 25 seconds. [Start of interview, 00:00:00] Joining British Rail 1960, Trains Office Derby, diagramming, train staff planning, special trains; [00:04:30] area covered, freight timetable, Derby to Barnt Green, Hornsbridge at Chesterfield; Birmingham, freight traffic analysis, wagon surveys; changes, introduction of diesels working ‘out and home’; [00:09:00] line occupation surveys; diagramming journeys and staff; [00:10:30] different jobs before being involved with TOPS; TOPS at Cardiff, start with Ebbw Vale cutover, TOPS in South Wales; [00:16:43] problem with Cardiff Tidal/East Maws works; use of Ventek terminals, issues, wagon surveys, [00:20:49] missing wagons, ‘Cripple roads’, loading wagon data into TOPS; [00:24:32] TOPS survey staff, cutover process, working hours; [00:29:25] impact of TOPS on Area Managers, attempts at economies, TOPS helping reduce amount of wagons and introduce air braked wagons; [00:35:26] TOPS and locomotive maintenance on Western Region; [00:42:39]economies, elimination of consignment notes, survey, traffic flow introduction of numbers for clients, economies on clerks and paper; [00:47:47] goods offices rationalisation, reduction in sidings, new methods of working enabling savings; [00:49:30] job at Speedlink 1984-1990; [00:50:21] TOPS moving into privatisation, non geographic allocation of reporting offices; [00:54:40] planning redundancy but kept on to work out how to affect the move away from geographic location; [00:57:36] TOPS 2000 introduction, link with privatisation; division within privatised freight network, change to Windows operating system; [01:02:23] TOPS 2000 implementation, TOPS offices for BR mainline; TOPS responsibility area (TRA), capacity limits and rationalisation, Worcester TOPS office closure, further rationalisation; [01:07:08] reason for TOPS office locations, marshalling yards, reasons for rationalisation and TOPS staff redeployment; [01:11:47] TOPS clerks, recruitment and grades; [01:14:40] Freightliner, coal/cement, links to TOPS; difference between TRUST and TOPS; [01:17:01] TRUST and LARTA, geolocated train departures; how to put in a new location [01:21:50] locations for companies; wagon load, marshalling yards, train loads rather than individual wagons; [01:25:07] merry-go-round system (MGR), automation, including wagon numbers and weights, MGR wagons kept in trains; Toton, only two roads on down-side, wagon weight limitation at some collieries, MGR wagons revolution; [01:30:17] TOPS 2000, more people understand the system, area managers and shunters can input TOPS; TOPS direct (Eric Straw), Wolverhampton Steel Terminal, training on using TOPS, including Masboro Control; [01:35:10] EWS move; cut over Swansea Borough, Newport 1974, returned 20 years later to cutover to shunters; removal of Rowntrees traffic, closure of Dringhouses yard, closing yards, Parkeston; reflection on railways during time of career, sectorisation hierarchy, Bury St Edmonds example, Peterborough-Grantham, division of payments in pre-privatisation era; [01:43:04] sectorisation process, new thinking, cost of running railway has increased, GNER causes wage inflation with drivers, causing train cancellations elsewhere;[01:49:02] career overview, lodging at Railway Hostel, Loco hostels, redundancy, WR change, traffic analysis, Rowsley, Derby, Crewe, Nantwich, Bridgend, Sheffield, TOPS implementation, Speedlink, RFD, Manchester, Islington; EWS attempts to replace TOPS; Freightliner poached Glynn from EWS with traffic; [02:01:20] work as a consultant sorting out new freight flows, sectorisation, end of Speedlink, lack of knowledge; Michael Portillo, every freight flow had to make 8.5% return on assets; [02:06:50], privatisation, increasing distance of freight flows [02:09:25] [end of interview]

Glynn Waite interviewed by Bob Gwynne

2017-09-18
Oral history interview with Margaret Willmot conducted and recorded by Dr Jonathan Aylen on 8 December 2016. Duration: 1 hour 2 minutes 28 seconds. The interview focuses on Margaret Willmot’s experience as a junior programmer on TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) at British Rail. Start of railway career, TOPS (Total Operations Processing System), education, computing degree, job application; [00:03:23] British Rail induction, COBOL programming language, computing people vs railway people career approach; BR computer centres, machine types; work on TOPS at Blandford House, gender stereotypes, work on TOPSTRANS; [00:07:30] programming language in TOPSTRANS, assembler based macro language, how it worked, [00:14:23], computer core memory, data storage on magnetic tapes; TOPS customed built equipment, operating system; [00:18:30] disc drives vs tape drives, online vs offline processing; [00:20:00] TOPS wagons team, coding applications related to wagons, how coding was done, equipment used, punch cards, tele-type, team reaction to online machine, typing cards, programmers and typists, typing error example; [00:23:35] writing new enquiry for commodity code, modifying existing code, American code vs British Rail code, STANOX, TOPS Responsibility Areas (TRA), end of punch cards; [00:26:05] ventek cards 96 columns punch cards vs 80 column cards, no use of paper tape on TOPS; [00:29:51] enquiry for commodity code, security in TOPS; safety, preventative maintenance of wagons in TOPS, ‘cripples’ wagon; [00:32:20] TOPS wagon team, colleagues, organisation, way of working, hard coding, complexity of wagon movements in Scunthorpe area; [00:36:05] modification to original American TOPS for use by British Rail, example of obsolete codes for United Kingdom application; TOPS telecommunication, BR private phone lines; [00:41:10] British Rail choosing IBM over ICL; training on TOPSTRANS by Southern Pacific, relationship with Americans, helping with issues, BR staff visits to USA; interviewer discussing origin of TOPS; [00:46:20] example of computer crashing with application programme, technical issues and requirement, human errors rather than programme errors, example of issues with wagons, missing wagons, numbers painted on wagons; wagon audited against TOPS data; [00:55:00] working hours, office based work, junior position, reflections on experience on TOPS, camaraderie in TOPS team, TOPS experience useful in next job, if TOPS is still in use; date formatting in TOPS, space saving format; [00:59:30] leaving TOPS and British Railway, career after TOPS, San Francisco based computing company, revenue system for Eurotunnel; [01:01:00] further reflection on experience on TOPS [01:02:28] [end of interview]

Margaret Willmot interviewed by Jonathan Aylen

2016-12-08
SMG corporate archive records for NRM, 1943-2006, transferred from Corporate Information, 2021. Consists of 554 corporate files, 6 born-digital media carriers (which are part of the files) and 1070 civil engineering and architectural drawings relating to the NRM site.

SMG corporate archive records for NRM

1943-2006
05/1988, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V1/88 / Note on content: Views of and from platforms 4-5-6-7-8 (05/05/1988 ; 0 - 594), Views from D. depot (18/05/1988 ; 595-782), Views from Cinder path bridge (18/05/1988 ; 783-988) ; 38 min / Digitised through MiniDV in May 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York Station'

1988-05-17
Shot by Chris Hogg / Handwritten on canister: York station June 1987, filmed by C. M. Hogg, 'good' / Colour, Silent, Kodachrome, 1986 film stock

16mm Original Camera Film Reel 'York Station'

1987-05-31
31/10/1988 to 03/12/1988, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V17/88/ Digitised through MiniDV in June 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York Station'

1988-10-31
06/1988 to 08/1988 (June to August 1988), Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V10/88 / Digitised through MiniDV in June 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York Station'

1987-1989
09/1988 to 31/10/1988, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V13/88 / Digitised through MiniDV in June 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York Station'

1987-1989
24/02/1989 to 05/03/1989, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V4/89 / Digitised through MiniDV in September 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York Area'

1989-02-24
08/01/1989 to 11/01/1989, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V2/89 / Digitised through MiniDV in August 2017

VHS Master Tape 'York'

1989-01-15
2004, opening of Locomotion, NRM at Shildon with Tony Blair / Probably filmed by Chris Hogg / Very bad/damaged sound (inaudible presentations by officials)

MiniDV 'Tony Blair NRM Shildon'

2003-2005
17/05/1988, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V3/88 / Note on content: Old Whitby-Pickering railway ticket house at Larpool (0-88), Whitby town station (88-..) ; 10 min / Digitised through MiniDV in May 2017

VHS Master Tape 'Whitby'

1988-05-16
No reference, no date, likely also filmed by Chris Hogg, c 1990s / Digitised through MiniDV in May 2017 footage of locomotive 9395 being transported on lorry. And by rail. And then being shunted into great hall.

S-VHS Master Tape 'Super D'

1989-1991
06/06/1989, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V6/89 / Digitised through MiniDV in October 2017

VHs Master Tape 'Signal Boxes Thirsk and Northallerton'

1989-06-05
NRM at Shildon / Video edited by Chris Hogg?

MiniDV 'Locomotion'

Handwritten on case: Looking North from Severus Bridge, York, 1986 / Photo department, NRM / April 1986 / Colour, silent, Kodachrome, 1976 film stock (?) / Shot by Chris Hogg

16mm film reel 'Looking North from Severus Bridge York 1986'

1986-03-31
2007, 2008

MiniDV Master Tape 'RET B'

2006-2008
Flying Scotsman, HST, Coal / Film with titles and credits

MiniDV 'Rich Media film'

2009

MiniDV 'RET B'

2008-2010
The last ever British steam hauled, 1968 / Interviews Franck Watson and others, in NRM and other locations , etc… / Flickering or issues on soundtrack

MiniDV 'Memories of the 15 Guinea special, Liverpool to Carlisle'

05/07/2002 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Pamela Knowles ex British Rail worker, Interview National Railway Museum

Master MiniDV 'Pamela Knowles Interview'

2002-07-05
11/06/2002 / Filmed by Chris Hogg / Rashid Ali ex British Rail worker, Interview National Railway Museum

Master MiniDV 'Rashid Ali interview'

2002-06-11
11/08/1989, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V7/89 / Digitised through MiniDV in October 2017

VHS Master Tape 'Newbury Racecourse Station'

1989-08-10
18/04/1990, Recorded by Chris Hogg, reference V1/90 / 'NRM on Tour' Swindon / Digitised through MiniDV in May 2017

VHS Master Tape 'NRM on Tour, Swindon'

1990-04-17
NRM at Shildon / Colour, Sound / Video edited by Chris Hogg?

MiniDV 'Locomotion'