The National Railway Museum has shared a new look inside its upcoming gallery before it opens to visitors next month.
Built inside the 1500m2 former locomotive workshop building onsite, ‘Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery’ will feature 18 interactive exhibits with an engineering, science and railway theme that have been installed around several original workshop features.
The museum is also moving to permanent seven day opening for the first time since the pandemic.
Specialist exhibit developers are now finishing the last of the installations in time for the opening weekend on 22 July 2023.
As well as interactive exhibits, the gallery will also include two interactive art installations created by artists Pippa Hale and Steve Messam, and a ‘Demo Bar’ where the museum’s Explainer team will host a programme of live shows and activities for schools and general visitors.
The gallery’s major funding partner is the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation who pledged £2.5m towards the creation in March 2022.
National Railway Museum’s upcoming Wonderlab receives multi-million donation
Wonderlab has also received funding from Eversholt Rail, Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, The Holbeck Charitable Trust, the Kirby Laing Foundation, and the Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust.
The completed project will be the first in the museum’s Vision 2025 masterplan, which also includes a refurbished Station Hall, which is expected to be finished by the end of 2024 and the museum’s new Central Hall building and Railway Futures: The Porterbrook Gallery will open in 2025 as the museum celebrates its 50th birthday.
