Welcome back

We're open Wednesday–Sunday 10.00–17.00.

During October half term we're open all week from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November.

OPEN

• Great Hall
• Great Hall café (see food and drink section below)
• Highlights exhibition
• Shop
• Picnic area in the courtyard by Countess of York
• Ice cream in the courtyard
• Lockers, toilets and baby changing areas
• Station Hall, with one-way system
• South Yard, including picnic area
• Outdoor play area
• Under-5s play area in Great Hall
• North Shed (26–30 October only)
• Mallard Experience
• Miniature railway
• Model railway

CLOSED

• Road Train (temporarily closed)
• Steam rides
• The Depot
• Cab access
• Shinkansen interior access
• Search Engine  
• North Shed (except from 26-30 October)
• The Works/Workshop
• Thomas ride-ons 
• Great Hall shop
• Info points in Great Hall 
• Countess of York
• Live shows
• Viewing balcony
• Flying Scotsman exhibition 

• Entry is free
• Tickets can be pre-booked up to three weeks in advance
• You can pre-book food with your entry ticket to skip the lunch queue on the day
• You ticket contains a barcode we'll need to scan when you arrive at the museum, you can do this on your mobile device
• If you can't use a mobile device to show us your ticket, we can scan a printout—just make sure you've downloaded all images before printing
• If you arrive without a ticket, you won't be able to get in. You may still be able to book a ticket using your smartphone or by calling the call centre on 0800 047 8124. Depending on the number of visitors already in the museum, it may be that you can book a ticket for the current time, or you may need to wait until the next available time slot
• See the FAQs section for more info about tickets

The Great Hall café is back open, with a full menu including pastries, sandwiches, salads, homemade pizza, homemade sausage rolls, homemade cakes and traybakes, hot and cold drinks and plenty more.

We have pre-bookable Lunch Bags and Kids Bags available to purchase when you book your ticket online. You will be able to select from a sandwich or salad when booking, and the additional contents (fruit, drinks etc) can be selected on the day of your visit.

Download the menu (PDF).

If you have any allergies or dietary requirements you can let us know during the booking process.

Pre-booking enables you to skip the queue on the day of your visit, these can be collected from Great Hall café.

Lunch bag, £12.50

Choose either a sandwich or salad:

• Cheddar Ploughman’s on white or brown with local chutney
• Ham salad on white or brown
• Chicken Caesar salad
• Moroccan squash, feta and red quinoa salad

• Home-made chocolate brownie
• Tyrrell’s crisps, from a selection on the day, typically: lightly salted, sea salt and vinegar or cheese and chive
• Piece of fruit (from a selection on the day)
• Drink, from a selection on the day, all 500ml—still or sparkling life water, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite Zero, orange Fanta Zero

Kid's bag, £5.95

Sandwich (pick one):

• Ham
• Cheese

• Tunnock’s tea cake
• Pop chips, from a selection on the day, typically: sea salt, salt and vinegar, barbecue
• Piece of fruit (from a selection on the day)
• Fruit juice (from a selection on the day – apple / orange)

Countess of York

Countess of York will be reopen for afternoon tea on weekends from 28 November.

Download our admission guidelines in full.

WiFi is available throughout the museum—look for the network 'Free Museum Wi-Fi'.

Visitors are permitted to use hand-held cameras in the museum for private and non-commercial purposes, but must not:

• Use cameras in any areas where video or photography is restricted—this will always be clearly indicated
• Make any recording or take any photograph of any person without that person’s permission

Non-private or commercial use of cameras/recording devices and the use of tripods or lighting is only allowed by prior arrangement.