York’s famous National Railway Museum is filled with iconic machines –our new interpretive masterplan strategically repositions these historic engines for greater legibility and impact, while weaving layers of human and technological stories around them. 

Home to 40 historic locomotives, including an original Mallard and Bullet Train and a recreation of Stephenson’s Rocket, we worked with the team to reconfigure the Great Hall to demonstrate wider, global as well engineering and cultural narratives. Working closely with the client we developed six themes, from the revolution in engineering and science thinking that gave birth to these locomotives, to the various consequences for work, trade and even conflict that resulted from the mass movement of people and goods.