The Mapping Museum research project was created to look at the increase in the number of museums in the UK. As part of this project, Trevor England and Chris Smyth were interviewed about the Museum of Rail Travel.

Explore more about the Mapping Museum project here and read England and Smyth's interview below:

Interview summary

Name of person(s) being interviewed: Trevor England and Chris Smyth

Location of interview: Museum of Rail Travel, Keighley

Date of Recording: 17 December 2018

Recording Length: 01:23:33

Name of interviewer: Dr Toby Butler

Description: The Museum of Rail Travel is principally devoted to railway carriages through the ages; it is run by the Vintage Carriages Trust, formed in 1965. At the time of writing it has nine historic railway carriages, three small steam locomotives, a railbus and a large collection of railway signs, posters and magazines.

Summary of main points in interview: Trevor England is Chair of the Vintage Carriages Trust (VCT); Chris Smyth is a trustee. England says the museum gets 15,000 visitors a year and has benefited from the work of an audience development co-ordinator. Income is from ticket sales, sales of books, magazines and memorabilia, membership fees, donations/bequests and hiring out coaches to heritage railways and film companies.

Their first coach was preserved by the first chair, Tony Cox in 1965. The Worth Valley branch line was closed in 1962 and taken over by the Worth Valley Railway (WVR) with the aim of running a local commuter railway, but it became a preservation society. Tony Cox and Robin Higgins were involved in the WVR but established the VCT to restore carriages rather than trains. Wooden carriages were replaced with steel construction from the mid-1950s. Sometimes it was possible to buy direct from the railway.

Another source of coaches was preservation societies. They explain how the VCT moved sites when offered a siding at Ingrow, and they put up a building in 1989 that soon allowed them to open to the public. They explain how newer generations of visitors are seeing steam differently as they didn’t experience it. They describe how a major government grant allowed them to restore a very early colliery locomotive, the Bellerophon. The building also meant they could restore coaches to original condition, rather than for track use. They explain how the displays are changing to appeal to families and provide a range of experience across the ‘Rail Story’ site. They are developing an education programme and a register of 4,000 preserved coaches for research. Filming has also been significant and is an important hook for visitors.

TRANSCRIPT ONLY; NO AUDIO FILE PROVIDED