Museum Landmarks
The museum is arranged as stops along the 'line' with station direction board signs and information points on the trail between the car parks and the main collection building. The museum has a short length of track used to operate some of the resident locomotives and visiting trains. The A1 locomotive, Tornado was operating on the line on 3 May 2010, during a visit to the museum.
The trail starts at the welcome building. The original Sans Pareil is on display here. The second building is Timothy Hackworth's house. It contains several activities about the history of Shildon. Soho is a stone building that was a railway workshop, having originally been an iron merchant’s store. The fourth stop is the former goods shed for the town, with most incoming and outgoing goods being delivered to the railway by horse and cart. The building is built partially from recycled stone sleeper blocks, the old fixing slots being visible in the wall.
As private vehicles are not allowed beyond here for the 750-yard journey to the Collection a courtesy link bus, the Eco Bus, runs from near here on its 15-minute sequence. The railway station's parcel office is the next part of the trail and at the junction, visible across the tracks are the former stables for the early horse-drawn wagonways that linked to the line. The coal drops were a refuelling point for steam locomotives. Wagons were hauled up an incline and the coal 'dropped' down wooden chutes into the tender below. The light engine is an interactive pole that displays colours. You can change the name of the pole if you text in. The trail passes under the roadway, and the Eco Bus route crosses on to the museum's rail line for a short distance. There is a children's playground for children and a picnics outside the Collection building. The trail ends at the largest building in the museum. It contains the exhibition hall and a conservation workshop with viewing gallery to see the work carried out by volunteers restoring some of the exhibits. Other facilities in the building include interactive games, a cafe and shop.
Read more about this topic: Shildon Locomotion Museum
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