A trip to the National Railway Museum, Shildon – Locomotion

Yesterday we went on a last minute trip out to Shildon to visit the Locomotion Museum. I was keen to get a visit in before the amazing Tim Peake’s Spacecraft left for its next stop on the #soyuztour.

It was fairly easy to navigate and find the museum and once we arrived there was plenty of parking available. It was understandably busy with it still being the Christmas school holidays here in the north east.

The girls had a great time looking at all of the different trains and of course the highlight for us all was to get up close to the Spacecraft. With lots of information available to read and watch, aimed at a level for all ages, it really captured my 9 year olds attention and her questions about how they would feel after landing back on earth reaffirmed the importance of museums to educate, inspire and most importantly be free for all to visit.

 

 

 

As well as the Spacecraft there is an astronaut suit the children can climb up to and pretend to be taking part in a space walk. This worked better for my eldest who was the right height but not so much for my younger daughter, thankfully with a little help from being lifted up she could enjoy it too. Just be prepared to have to hold the younger ones up and duck down out of sight for photos. Great fun for all, I watched people of all ages who couldn’t resist having a go!

Also on display for any Lego loving fans like myself is a case with a selection of NASA Lego! Great to see Lego’s ‘Women of NASA’ set too.

 

The Locomotion’s Website is here. The space craft is only at Shildon until the 15th of January so make sure you get along quick. After that date it is going to be at the National Railway Museum at York until the 8th March 2018.

Let me know how you find your visit 😊