Explore 200 Years of Railway History with Google Arts & Culture and AI
This year marks both the 50th birthday of the National Railway Museum and the bicentenary of the modern railway in the UK. To celebrate, the Science Museum Group has launched a new project with Google Arts & Culture, titled “Beyond the Tracks,” embracing digital technology to make railway history accessible to a global audience.
The project reflects the railway’s own role in inspiring technological advancement and aims to ensure its powerful history “belongs to everyone, everywhere.” As part of this initiative, the museum utilized Google Arts & Culture’s new AI-powered Metadata Enhancement Service to transcribe handwritten documents and artifacts, making previously inaccessible ancient records searchable.
“Beyond the Tracks” builds upon a long-standing partnership with Google Arts & Culture, which previously included an eight-part educational storytelling series. These stories showcase items from the museum’s collection, covering topics like “Connecting the World,” “Taking Flight,” “Home Cooking,” and the “Energy transition.”
Now,visitors can virtually explore the Locomotion museum in Shildon,County Durham,home to Europe’s largest undercover collection of historic railway vehicles. Three new 360-degree virtual tours allow users to wander through Locomotion, including the Main Hall and the New hall (designed as a conventional engine shed), appreciating the scale of the heritage rail vehicles. Users can also virtually walk the historic Brusselton Incline, part of the world’s first public railway dating back to 1825.
