2022 News
Education Network at the National Railway Museum
The Education Network was established by Community Rail Lancashire and was initially open to community rail partnerships and groups across the Northern network, but when Covid-19 hit, the group moved its meetings online and invited members from across Britain to join. Numerous projects, such as Backtrack, and training opportunities have been organised through the network, and on the 6th July we attended an in person meeting at the National Railway Museum in York.
The day started with talks from Alison Kay, Archives Manager, Heather Lysiak, Community Partnerships and Events Manager, Sophie Vohra discussing the Station Halls Migration Stories, Ashlynn Welburn talking about the Museums work in preserving the voices of rails LGBTQ+ community, and learning more about the Innovation Platform Exhibition. It was fascintating to hear how the museum strives to curate the objects and experiences of so many different communities who have been involved or affected by the railway and they are always seeking new ways to share their knowledge and work collaboratively in order to do justice to the exhibits and the projects they look after.
We were delighted to be given a tour of the archives in the museum and discovered a vast collection of posters, log books, timetables, artwork and so much more. Fiona Forsythe told us about the Forsythe Collection that had been gifted to the museum and contains a fascinating insight into how railways were promoted in the later twentieth century as well as a whole host of other railway information.
Encouraging cyclists to use the train - part of the Forsythe Collection
