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What is there to see?
The museum is housed in an original Victorian station building that was commissioned by the famous railway entrepreneur George Hudson and designed by Thomas Moore, Sunderland's first notable architect. Seven new interactive galleries have been developed as part of the recent £1million development of the museum, making learning about the history of travel and transport in Tyne and Wear fun and exciting, as well as educational.
Permanent Galleries
Monkwearmouth Station Museum
Visit this splendid Victorian Station to experience a sense of rail travel in times past. You can explore the ticket office - as it would have looked in Victorian times - and find out what it was like to work at the station in the past. Stand on the platform where evacuees from Sunderland started their journey to the country in World War II. Discover a guard's van and goods wagon in the railway sidings and watch today's trains zoom past on the platform gallery.
The Children's Gallery is aimed at the under 5s and has a range of toys, books and dressing up clothes for imaginative play.
Rediscover Monkwearmouth Station Museum after its refurbishment this autumn term. Museum staff will give a short introduction and then give you time to explore our new Journeys Gallery where you can learn more about travel in the past. Meet the Victorian Stationmaster in his Booking Office. See trains go past from the new Platform Gallery and play and learn in the Children’s Gallery.
The Journeys Gallery
The Journeys Gallery evokes a spirit of adventure and discovery as the visitor explores the experience of making journeys. The gallery explores a wide variety of themes including 'A Trip to London', 'War Time Journeys' and 'Food on the Move'.
Objects in the gallery incorporate all aspects of a journey - from tickets and brochures to the picnic sets and books used to pass the time. Films are used to explore different travel themes and journeys such as 'What the Metro means to me', and 'Nothing about us without us' (reflecting the experiences of travellers with disabilities) and are available with British Sign Language interpretation.
The Children's Gallery
The purpose built Children's Gallery has been designed to provide children and their carers with an area to learn together in a fun and interactive way. The gallery, targeted primarily at the under 5s, reflects the station's past as well as focusing on themes such as Time, Travel and Journeys. The gallery also incorporates real historic artefacts. The interactive gallery is a great place to learn and have fun.
Temporary exhibition gallery
The Museum has a varied programme of temporary exhibitions. See the What's On section for more information.