Bernard Bell, 89, one time steam driver and former Lord Mayor of York has been supporting a public campaign to save the National Railway Museum. Alarmed by reports that the Science Museum Group plans to shut one of its museums local people and rail staff swung into action.
The campaign, organised by local newspaper the York Press, attracted 13,500 signatures to a petition in just a fortnight. As well as York, the Science Museum Group runs museums in London, Bradford and Manchester. Cuts to funding could mean one of them may have to close.
Interest in the NRM has never been higher this July with thousands celebrating the record breaking run of A4 class locomotive Mallard which raced down Stoke Bank at 126mph on 3 July 1938.
The NRM has reunited the record breaker with its five surviving sister locomotives. Only six of the 35 A4 locomotives built survive. Bernard Bell drove the iconic Mallard in the 1950s. Now living in Woodthorpe Mr Bell spent his working life on the railways.
