National Railway Museum Shildon has been renewed and expanded — and this visit became more than just a museum trip.
On the way, we unexpectedly came across a Hitachi Class 802 hybrid battery test train, fitted with equipment for Britain’s next-generation railway technology.
From the remains of the Stockton & Darlington Railway to modern hybrid train experiments, this journey explores both the past and future of Britain’s railways.

Previous video: 【2027年全廃】イギリス伝説の高速列車HSTがついに引退へ。なぜ大規模改修したのに...

In this episode, we visit National Railway Museum Shildon, in the small railway town of Shildon, County Durham.

On a previous visit to Britain, we unfortunately arrived on a day when the museum was closed, so we could not show the exhibits inside.
This time, however, we finally got to explore the museum properly — including the new hall that opened in 2024 as part of the museum’s major renewal and expansion.

Inside the museum are many important vehicles from British railway history, including steam locomotives, royal carriages, and high-speed trains that helped shape the modern railway network.
The area around Shildon station has also been improved, making it easier to explore the surviving railway remains connected with the early days of rail transport.

Shildon is closely linked with the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825 and is often regarded as the world’s first public railway.
Old warehouses, stone structures, and railway facilities still remain around the town.
Some of them may look like ordinary walls or old industrial buildings at first glance, but they were once part of the infrastructure that supported Britain’s early railway age.

After the end of steam and the closure of the large railway works, Shildon gradually lost much of its former railway role.
However, with the Shildon museum reaching its 20th anniversary and the Stockton & Darlington Railway approaching its 200th anniversary, the area has been renewed and re-presented as an important railway heritage site.

But this journey was not only about history.
At Darlington station, we unexpectedly came across a very unusual train: a Hitachi Class 802 hybrid battery test train.

The Class 802 is normally a bi-mode train, able to run on both electrified and non-electrified routes.
For this test, one of the diesel generator units had been replaced with a large battery system, allowing engineers to trial new hybrid technology.

The train had sensors, temporary wiring, and measuring equipment both inside and outside the vehicle, giving it a very different atmosphere from a normal passenger train.
The battery fitted to the train was produced at Nissan’s UK facility, making this a particularly interesting example of Japanese technology being tested on Britain’s railway network.

The test unit itself also had an unusual background.
It was based on a trainset that had been undergoing repair after an accident, making it a rather special experimental formation.

In this video, we explore the renewed museum, the railway heritage around Shildon, and the latest hybrid train technology that hints at the future of British railways.
From 200-year-old railway remains to modern battery-powered test trains, this is a journey through both railway history and railway innovation.

Chapters
0:00 Visiting the renewed British railway museum
1:02 Why do British express trains not show train numbers like Japan?
2:37 Finding a Hitachi test train at Darlington station
3:41 What is a hybrid train? The Class 802 experiment
4:59 Nissan batteries supporting Britain’s new railway technology
5:44 How does the hybrid system work?
7:08 The test train was a former accident-damaged unit
10:54 Taking a local train to Shildon
11:47 Railway remains around Shildon station
14:14 Visiting National Railway Museum Shildon
15:32 Exhibits that shaped Britain’s high-speed rail history
18:48 What makes the 2024 new hall special?
20:58 Vehicles familiar from Thomas & Friends
23:15 What the new hall tells us about railway history