Has the NRM finally lost the plot? (Spacecraft going on display)

[IanXC]

After all the controversy about the National Railway Museum disposing of exhibits, on a number of occasions almost in a secretive fashion, this seems to be the next instalment in their efforts to loose their way...

Tim Peake's historic capsule lands January 2018, along with a space-age virtual reality experience narrated by the astronaut himself.
Date: 17 Jan 2018 - 08 Mar 2018

http://www.nrm.org.uk/planavisit/events/soyuz?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TM:Christmas-familiesandadults&utm_content=version_A

Is it just me that has concluded that the NRM has completely lost their purpose and seemingly, other than very high profile exhibits, really are no longer anywhere near the head of the list of organisations preserving our railway heritage?

 

[Cowley]

Perhaps it was a mix up and a staff member said they’ve got Space Ian..?

 

[Bedpan]

No shock or surprise to me. After all, they've had a replica Rocket there for ages.

 

[trash80]

The capsule is on a tour and will bring in a lot of visitors who arn't necessarily interested in railways... but maybe that will change. And it will bring in plenty of cash anyway. Really don't see what the problem is.

 

[Flying Phil]

The capsule is on a tour and will bring in a lot of visitors who arn't necessarily interested in railways... but maybe that will change. And it will bring in plenty of cash anyway. Really don't see what the problem is.

I agree - it is only temporary and the NRM is part of the larger SMG after all. We are very fortunate to have so much of our heritage available in so many locations and formats.

 

[edwin_m]

Perhaps they thought Tim Peake was something to do with class 44-46?

 

[mushroomchow]

No shock or surprise to me. After all, they've had a replica Rocket there for ages.

This guy wins, close thread.

 

[Pinza-C55]

"Presenting Partners Samsung" tells you all you need to know. They view themselves as a business in the same way many charities view themselves as businesses. It must be troublesome to be constrained to being a railway museum.

 

[LOL The Irony]

The NRM should have a railway enthusiast at the helm, not an executive or CEO.

 

[Darandio]

The NRM should have a railway enthusiast at the helm, not an executive or CEO.

So we can watch them haemorrhage any funds they do have in very short order?

 

[trash80]

The NRM should have someone who knows how to run a large organisation, handle a large number of stakeholders and manage millions in budget and funding. If they can be a rail enthusiast too then great but thats not the most important thing.

 

[pdeaves]

The NRM should have someone who knows how to run a large organisation, handle a large number of stakeholders and manage millions in budget and funding. If they can be a rail enthusiast too then great but thats not the most important thing.

The NRM (and any business or charity of any size) should also have someone who keeps in mind their main purpose/focus. If the words 'railway museum' are in your title, it might be a good idea to make sure that you focus on 'railway' in your museum. Other stuff may be good or interesting or whatever but perhaps there are other, more appropriate places to showcase them, say the https://spacecentre.co.uk, for example.

(How do you put a hyperlink that gives description rather than the whole URL?)

 

[Flying Phil]

Interesting to put a link to the Spacecentre at Leicester.....I am sure that one of the reasons the Lottery Fund is providing funds for the "Main Line" Leicester rail museum project is precisely because it is within sight of the Spacecentre!
If this short lived small diversion of some space in the NRM gets more people into the NRM then there is more chance that some will get "into" railways. As thrash80 says
"The NRM should have someone who knows how to run a large organisation, handle a large number of stakeholders and manage millions in budget and funding. If they can be a rail enthusiast too then great but that's not the most important thing."

 

[Ploughman]

Maybe somebody remembered the link between a Roman cart and a Solid Rocket Booster?

https://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp

 

[nat67]

After all the controversy about the National Railway Museum disposing of exhibits, on a number of occasions almost in a secretive fashion, this seems to be the next instalment in their efforts to loose their way...



http://www.nrm.org.uk/planavisit/events/soyuz?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TM:Christmas-familiesandadults&utm_content=version_A

Is it just me that has concluded that the NRM has completely lost their purpose and seemingly, other than very high profile exhibits, really are no longer anywhere near the head of the list of organisations preserving our railway heritage?

They have lost the plot especially as 87001 has been in the carriage hall for ages and you cant even get a good photo of and should be back in the great hall where it was about 10 years ago. I went there during the summer with FishQuinn and there's a stupid Mallard simulator and recreation items that spoil the whole point of a Railway museum. 47798 is in a white covered green house with other locos that you cant see. They are too busy thinking about Flying Scotsman rather than 87001 Royal Scot and not bringing it back to the main line. I must admit you would get as many people out to see 87001 as Flying Scotsman on the main line.

 

[Darandio]

I must admit you would get as many people out to see 87001 as Flying Scotsman on the main line.

I bet you wouldn't!

 

[Pinza-C55]

The NRM should have someone who knows how to run a large organisation, handle a large number of stakeholders and manage millions in budget and funding. If they can be a rail enthusiast too then great but thats not the most important thing.

So how did the NRM manage in the days before it had a CEO ?

 

[Darandio]

So how did the NRM manage in the days before it had a CEO ?

It came close to closure several times, 2012, 2013, 2015 and I assume many times before as well? What year was the first CEO appointed and how did the role change?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

If it ceases to be a 'railway focussed' museum, indeed The National Railway Museum, the clue really is in the title, then it simply becomes any other museum, in direct competition with the many other museums, and commercial leisure attractions, for the tourist £.

A race to the bottom.

Who can sell the most fluffy gonks to kids and entertain them with shallow, superficial interactive displays.

Many museums have long since ceased to be places of knowledge and learning, curated by experts in their particular field. I was in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland the other week, basically an extension of the college with a few information panels and a few interactives (not all working). Were it not for the live glass blowing / working demonstrations I could have been in and out within the hour.

 

[nat67]

If it ceases to be a 'railway focussed' museum, indeed The National Railway Museum, the clue really is in the title, then it simply becomes any other museum, in direct competition with the many other museums, and commercial leisure attractions, for the tourist £.

A race to the bottom.

Who can sell the most fluffy gonks to kids and entertain them with shallow, superficial interactive displays.

Many museums have long since ceased to be places of knowledge and learning, curated by experts in their particular field. I was in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland the other week, basically an extension of the college with a few information panels and a few interactives (not all working). Were it not for the live glass blowing / working demonstrations I could have been in and out within the hour.

Good Answer

 

[Stew998]

There is a trend to modernise museums which in my experience usually means more accessible areas, more interactive displays (Some of which may be working), better (but more expensive) catering, larger (and more expensive) shops and er, less exhibits....

Case in point the National Maritime Museum, used to be chock full of old models and loads of exhibits, now has a lot of open space, expensive cafe and no sign of most of the models. I walked round with my kids and you'd hardly know we had a merchant navy! Very disappointing. Felt like it had been redesigned by an architect with an intense dislike of history!

At the Bluebell Railway the museum used to be an old waiting room stuffed full of exhibits. A few years ago it was reopened in a sympathetic environment with a nicely balanced selection of displays (some interactive) including a small signal box and telling the history of the line, its operating companies and how it came into preservation. Very small admittedly, but very well done I thought.

 

[Marklund]

Who can sell the most fluffy gonks to kids and entertain them with shallow, superficial interactive displays.

The fluffy gonks go to help the funding of the items that Joe Public hasn't heard about/doesn't care about.
87001 quoted above is an example of an exhibit that the ordinary member of the public isn't specifically going to see at the museum. If it wasn't there, I doubt they'd care, or even notice.
Flying Scotsman on the other hand, well, the public most definitely has heard of, or care about it, and if it wasn't there, would be disappointed.

As for interactive displays, that's what makes it less stressful for the parents, as it's giving children something to do other than look at static exhibits, which gets boring after a while.

The NRM is a tourist attraction for all, not just rivet counters.

 

[Pinza-C55]

It came close to closure several times, 2012, 2013, 2015 and I assume many times before as well? What year was the first CEO appointed and how did the role change?

You are talking about the last 5 years but the NRM has been open 42 years.

 

[Pinza-C55]

There is a trend to modernise museums which in my experience usually means more accessible areas, more interactive displays (Some of which may be working), better (but more expensive) catering, larger (and more expensive) shops and er, less exhibits....

Case in point the National Maritime Museum, used to be chock full of old models and loads of exhibits, now has a lot of open space, expensive cafe and no sign of most of the models. I walked round with my kids and you'd hardly know we had a merchant navy! Very disappointing. Felt like it had been redesigned by an architect with an intense dislike of history!

At the Bluebell Railway the museum used to be an old waiting room stuffed full of exhibits. A few years ago it was reopened in a sympathetic environment with a nicely balanced selection of displays (some interactive) including a small signal box and telling the history of the line, its operating companies and how it came into preservation. Very small admittedly, but very well done I thought.

Around about 14 years ago I acquired an incomplete Tyers Key Token machine in an auction. Wanting to get an idea and photos of an intact one, I popped round to the NRM. I asked one of the well scrubbed and smartly dressed "Explainers" (I think that's what they were called) if it would be possible to get a look inside one of their Key Token machines. "Our what ?" came the reply. "The big red things like letter boxes" "Oh is that what they are ?". "Yes, they use them at Poppleton station, here's a photo". "Where's Poppleton ?" (it's a couple of miles outside York). I gave up.

 

[Starmill]

I suppose that if we exclude the issue of disposing of items in their collection and only focus on the capsule, there is a difference between side-projects that are perhaps only very loosely linked to the Museum's brief and are likely to be profitable and enhance the reputation of the charity for a short period, the proceeds of which can then be used to invest in the core brief of the charity and a more wholesale move away from those core duties of preservation and restoration in pursuit of unrelated and far more profitable (or maybe revenue-generating I should say) activities.

Which, exactly, this is, I wouldn't like to make a judgement. To me there is some cause for concern though.

 

[Darandio]

You are talking about the last 5 years but the NRM has been open 42 years.

Like I said, i'm sure it happened many times before that as well. But the question was, when did the head role change?

 

[pdq]

It's worth going to see the capsule just to realise how small it is, and how 'Wallace and Gromit' it looks. It should have been named the Space-o-matic...
I went to see it at the National Media Museum (as was) in Bradford and it certainly had the desired effect of us going to a museum we'd been to previously, and spending money in the restaurant and gift shop.
I don't see it as a total antithesis of NRM ideals - it's showcasing technological achievement in an exciting form of transport - and definitely agree that it will bring a potential new audience to thst museum, along with their £££.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Around about 14 years ago I acquired an incomplete Tyers Key Token machine in an auction. Wanting to get an idea and photos of an intact one, I popped round to the NRM. I asked one of the well scrubbed and smartly dressed "Explainers" (I think that's what they were called) if it would be possible to get a look inside one of their Key Token machines. "Our what ?" came the reply. "The big red things like letter boxes" "Oh is that what they are ?". "Yes, they use them at Poppleton station, here's a photo". "Where's Poppleton ?" (it's a couple of miles outside York). I gave up.

This sort of nonsense would never have happened in John Coiley's day. Unfortunately it would not surprise me at all these days. Anywhere.

 

[GatwickDepress]

This sort of nonsense would never have happened in John Coiley's day. Unfortunately it would not surprise me at all these days. Anywhere.

That said, how many railway enthusiasts know what a "Key Token machine" off the top of their heads? Or where Poppleton station is?

 

[trash80]

How nice slagging off a volunteer at the museum because they don't know everything about railways.