Navvies: workers who built the railways
Category: Story
Who took on the hard graft of building the first railways?
Objects and stories
Immerse yourself in stories from centuries of railway history and discover unexpected objects from the world's largest railway collection.
As well as hundreds of locomotives and carriages, our collection includes original engineering drawings, paintings, signs, posters, models and even a bridge.
Building the early railways
Explore... Locomotives
These incredible inventions underpin our collection of over a million railway-related objects. Among them are the world's fastest steam engine Mallard, the exquisitely streamlined Duchess of Hamilton, a replica of George Stephenson's pioneering Rocket and the only bullet train to be found outside of Japan.
Safety on the railways and beyond
Explore... Railway posters
Railway companies have designed some brilliant posters over the years. Take a look at these eye-catching examples from our extensive collection.
Women on the railways
Explore... Railway models
Our collection is home to over 1000 model engines, carriages and other rail vehicles and equipment, many of which are on display for you to discover in the Collections Store.
Trainspotting
Explore... Intriguing objects from the railways
From the original drawings of game-changing locomotives to a 'no spitting' sign, our collection of railway objects reaches far and wide.
You can see more of these objects in Highlights, our newest exhibition which puts some of our most interesting non-locomotive collection items under the spotlight on the Search Engine balcony in Great Hall.
