The National Railway Museum (York) Invasion was a sterling success. 109 steampunks attended in total and because of a faulty fire drill, we were all crammed into the Station Hall where we were treated to trains and carriages of the past.
Everyone looked splendid in their finery and because there were so many of us, it didn’t matter where you went, there was plenty of people to talk to. Several steampunk groups attended; Lincoln, Manchester, White Rose, Teesdale and Victorian Steampunk Connection.
Much of the first half of the day was spent catching with old friends, viewing the trains, having photographs taken and obviously eating cake. We all gathered for a group photoshoot at around 1pm. One thing I love about steampunk is the camaraderie between the different groups. The afternoon saw the Main Hall opened up and that’s when the groups generally splintered off. Some went into York city centre for some shopping. I had a cup of tea and meandered around the Main Hall for a while. There’s plenty to see in there, too including a Rocket and Hogwarts Express. There’s also a section of the channel tunnel to explore and some narrow gauge engines that were used in Foundries to move stuff around.
I met up with a couple of friends and we ventured into the City to explore the Shambles and visit a new shop that has opened called The Imaginarium. Keep an eye out in the Journal because I’ll be covering this extraordinary shop later in the year.
It was a splendid day, full of fun, laughter, posing and drinking tea. Old acquaintances were reunited and new friendships were forged. If you’ve not been to one of these events and are thinking of doing so, visit the Facebook pages below to keep abreast of their events schedule:
White Rose Yorkshire Steampunks
Cottonopolis Coglegtive (Manchester)
Victorian Steampunk Connection
Take a look at a selection of photographs from the day by various people attending the day:
Filed under: Articles - Events Tagged: Cottonopolis, England, Facebook, H. G. Wells, Invention, Jules Verne, Leeds, Main Hall, Manchester, National Railway Museum, Recreation, sci-fi, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Shambles, Sheffield, Steam engine, Steampunk, victorian, Victorian era, victorian science fiction, victoriana, Visual Arts, West Yorkshire, York
