Electric Railway Museum opening for the summer.
Rail enthusiasts in Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond are gearing up for a treat in May, as award-winning Electric Railway Museum opens for its first Open Weekend of the year, allowing visitors of all ages to explore its rich collection of iconic transport. Electric Railway Museum’s Spring Gala Weekend will take place on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th May from 10.30 am–4.30 pm on both days. Admission and car parking is free
2014 sees Electric Railway Museum welcome its newest site attraction, a 7¼ inch gauge miniature railway. Thanks to a generous £1,000 donation by Electric Railways Museum members, the museum now has its own miniature locomotive – MR ERMY – and 100 metres of track has already been laid. Offering rides to both young and old alike, the miniature railway is located by the new entrance gate, adjacent to the car park.
As well as the new miniature railway, the Class 457 experimental three phase unit, 67300, will be opened to the public for the first time in preservation following a lengthy restoration. Built in 1981 by British Railways in York, it is the last example of its Class to have survived.
Elsewhere, visitors will also be able to enjoy Electric Railway Museum’s impressive collection of electric trains. Members of the public will be able to climb aboard the Class 503 and one of the Class 309s, complete with the museum display (Museum 309), a café – serving hot and cold beverages, snacks and light bites – and the Electric Railway Museum shop. Volunteers will be on-hand to explain more about Electric Railway Museum’s diverse collection, which also includes British Railways Classes 307 and 308, as well as the power car for the record-breaking Advanced Passenger Train Prototype (APT-P), on loan from the National Railway Museum.
As well as further Open Weekends in July and September, due to popular demand, Electric Railway Museum will also be open to the public every second Saturday each month from April to October inclusive. As a result, 2014 is already shaping up to be the Warwickshire attraction’s busiest year yet.
The collection of electric trains at the museum’s Baginton site represents over a century of technological progress and includes examples of commuter trains, battery-electric locomotives, underground carriages, high speed express units and some of the specialist line side equipment that made them work, such as signalling and current collection apparatus. Electric Railway Museum is the largest private collection of electric trains in the UK and the only railway museum in Great Britain dedicated to electric traction.
Electric Railway Museum is a registered charity, staffed and run entirely by volunteers and work carried out is funded by donations and sponsorship.
