#Disclaimer. This feature is a complete betrayal of the Great Western Railway, its workers, and even Brunel himself. That said, all aboard!

In the last two-and-a-bit years Swindon Borough Council’s Steam Museum has taken delivery of two Great Western Railway heavyweights in the form of King George V and City of Truro. Both are on loan to the Museum of the Great Western Railway to mark 175 years since the establishment of Swindon new town and the railway works. But who just casually has two steam engines lying around that they won’t miss from their collection?

Well, “The World’s Greatest Railway Museum” – that’s who. And after seeing that bold claim on the leaflet of the National Railway Museum in York (bolder even than the name of the museum itself!) we thought we ought to see if it is indeed worthy of that title, given the gem of a museum we have on our very own doorstep here in the heart of the old railway works in Swindon.

And with the Easter holidays just around the corner, now is the ideal time to give the museum a try yourself.

Obviously the only way to journey to the National Railway Museum in York is by train, which I know may set a few alarm bells ringing for both parents with a family of children to keep an eye on, and also those who have enough years under their workbelt to remember the days of the hooter going off.

Even I will admit that the idea of travelling to York by train filled me with a mild sense of foreboding – simply because having to change trains from the Great Western Main Line at Paddington onto the Circle line to Kings Cross St Pancras for the East Coast Main Line is, well, a pain in the pancreas.

Luckily, there is a far simpler solution at hand, and one which will allow you to enjoy the journey without having to lug your suitcase on to the tube without having to MIND THE GAP, or endure the tutting of angry commuters you end up getting in the way of.

When you get to Swindon station, do it the proper way and turn left as you board the train – and head west to Bristol Parkway. Here you can jump aboard one of CrossCountry’s Voyager services that travel the length and breadth of the country each day and enjoy a change-free journey all the way to the heart of York. These modern trains may be unsettling at first to passengers used to travelling aboard the 1970s HSTs that power the Great Western Main Line today, but don’t be put off by their modern interiors, comfy seats and doors you don’t need to lean out of the window to open in order to disembark. How very 21st century!

As you arrive into York Station – a grand Victorian building that makes Swindon’s soulless collection of platforms look even more depressing – you will get your first glimpse of the museum, which is just a five minute walk from the station.

Like Steam, the NRM has been established in the heart of the old railway district, in this case the York North locomotive depot. But unlike Steam the NRM is a purpose built 1970s structure, as chances are there wouldn’t have been a building anywhere near large enough to house the immense collection now inside. With free entry, a visit really is a steal (although donations are encouraged upon entry).

One thing to make clear to fans of Steam is that the NRM is a very different museum and its drawing power is most certainly in the vast collection – and wide variety – of exhibits on display. It certainly leaves a lasting impact, coming out of the pedestrian subway under the road that divides the museum in two to come face-to-face with the nose of a Eurostar train bearing down on you.

Once in the great hall you will find yourself in amongst some of the heavyweights of the rail industry, right from Stephenson’s Rocket up to the mighty Mallard. It’s a museum that attracts all ages of visitors, from youngsters eagerly searching for Thomas the Tank Engine (he’s near the toilets, and you’ll need some change to ride him!), to older rail enthusiasts who remember the days of steam. As well as a wide variety of children’s activities planned throughout the school holidays and weekends, there is an extensive library of works to while away a rainy day for the more enthusiastic of enthusiasts.

And that’s before you even take on the museum’s seemingly endless store of artefacts that are not technically on display in a true sense in an annexe of the museum, but are open to the public. Think the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter, but with infinitely more artefacts. You could spend the best part of a day in this room alone wandering between the stacks of shelving loaded with heritage pieces from bygone days.

The museum is now famed for saving the Flying Scotsman for the nation, and there is a great collection at the museum showcasing the world’s most famous locomotive, and the route that gave it its name. Currently in the workshop there undergoing a 10-year overhaul is another famous steam locomotive, Sir Nigel Gresley, with work being carried out by The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust, which museum visitors can witness from a balcony above the workshop.

But this museum has been careful to keep bang up to date, and charts the journey of the railway – not just in this country, but around the world – right up to the present day. If you were lucky enough to complete your journey from Swindon to Bristol Parkway aboard one of GWR’s shiny new (soon-to-be) electric trains you will even find a near-life-size replica of the cab in the great hall, right opposite a Japanese Shinkansen - once capable of up to 215kph before being transported to the museum.

If the day-to-day running of the modern railway is more your thing, you can have a go at trying to understand the signalling network from a balcony overlooking the East Coast Main Line, and see if your understanding of the coloured blobs and sections is accurate, or whether the train you expected to see hurtle past in front of you was actually going in completely the opposite direction.

I think now it’s clear that even if your heart does belong to the Great Western Railway, this is one museum you need to experience – and I’m sure Brunel wouldn’t mind. After all, the NRM has taken great pains to ensure that some of the most famous steam locomotives to run on his line have survived to see the day when electric trains power along the Great Western Main Line (hopefully sometime in the near future…)

For more details, and full listings of Easter holiday activities, visit www.nrm.org.uk

CrossCountry run 12 services a day from Bristol Parkway to York, Monday to Saturday, and 10 on Sundays. Visit www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk for more details or to book.

FIVE THINGS TO DO IN YORK

There is more to York than just its remarkable railway heritage, so be sure to venture further into the city during your visit.

1. One thing sure to delight family members of all ages is York’s Chocolate Story. 2017 marked 250 years of chocolate maker Terry’s, so there has never been a better time to become better acquainted with the Chocolate Orange, or York’s back-story with the world’s most-cherished confectionary. As well as learning the stories of some of the people behind the chocolate rush and evolution into a corner-shop staple today, you can unwrap some of York’s most famous brands, learn how to taste chocolate properly (like a fine wine) and have a go at making your own chocolate to rival the mighty KitKat.

York’s Chocolate Story, King’s Square, YO1 7LD www.yorkchocolatestory.com

2. Thought you knew all there was to know about The Roman Baths, what with Bath on our doorstep here in Swindon? Think again. York (or Eboracum as the Romans called it) has a wealth of early Roman history lying beneath street level – none more so obvious than at the aptly-named Roman Bath pub. Pop in for a pint, then nip downstairs to see the painstakingly excavated remnants of a Roman bath house.

Roman Bath Public House, St Sampsons Square, YO1 8RN. romanbathmuseum@yahoo.co.uk

3. It wasn’t just the Romans who made York their home, and perhaps one of the city’s most famous newer attractions (and known to any child of the 90s who was an avid Blue Peter watcher) is Jorvik. This multi-dimensional museum regularly has queues snaking around Coppergate outside, especially following its multi-million pound reimagining which saw it reopen at the end of last year. And the queue is most definitely worth it. This fully-immersive museum takes you below street level to the time of the Vikings where you can explore the remnants of Viking York, before being taken aboard an all-encompassing ride through a recreated Viking village – smells and all. You can’t get any closer to the real thing than this.

Jorvik, Coppergate, YO1 9WT www.jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk

4. Now, this may sound like a very educational visit, as the next item on the list is another museum. But what is great about each of the museums that York has on offer is how engaging they are for all ages. Summing up that spirit is the York Castle Museum, which far from being a stuffy museum full of broken bits of pottery you can’t touch behind a rope, is actually a journey back to the past. It allows you to walk the cobbled streets of Victorian York, sit in a jail cell of York Castle Prison, feel the horror of the First World War, dance through the swinging sixties, and try on bustles, bum rolls and corsets as part of the Body Shape Through the Ages exhibition. And if you want to climb the ramparts of a real castle, the imposing hill-top castle built by William The Conqueror is just opposite – though be prepared for a lot of steps. The view from the top make it all worthwhile though.

York Castle Museum, Castle Area, Eye of York, YO1 9RY. www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk

Clifford’s Tower, Tower Street, YO1 9SA www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cliffords-tower-york/

5. Dominating the skyline of the city is the impressive York Minster. You will probably spy the three towers of Northern Europe’s largest medieval Gothic cathedral as you roll in to the railway station, but if not you will soon find your way towards it, through some of the city’s most beautiful medieval streets. Built between 1291 and the 1350s, it is an imposing building that really does take your breath away. Belowground is the cathedral’s new Undercroft area, an interactive journey through two millennia of the city’s history using a whole host of multimedia displays and artefacts from the Minster’s life. Above ground, a journey up to the very top of the cathedral’s 72-metre-high central tower is worth every step of the winding staircase you take. Even if you don’t have a head for heights, the views alone out across the city and beyond from the highest point in the whole city make this a visit worth conquering your fear for.

York Minster, Deangate, YO1 7HH. www.yorkminster.org

For more details and ideas to plan a visit to York visit www.visityork.org