Update on the 'Hire Car Incident'; in York...

Remember the drama we experienced in York? Our hire car was damaged when a fellow guest at the Clifton Bridge B&B decided to jump out of the first floor window of her room in the early hours of the morning. It was our car that broke her fall, and it is believed also saved her from serious injury.

 After many phone conversations with Europcar during the rest of our stay in York, we were led to believe that we wouldn't be charged the insurance excess on the car but when we later returned the car in London we were charged £1000.
But there is good news...
A few weeks after we arrived home we received a refund of  £429 as the car repairs did not amount to £1000. DH had already submitted a claim through our travel insurance for the £1000, so there was a quick call to the company to amend the amount of the claim. Then, last week we received word from our travel insurance company that we would be refunded the balance minus $100...we were pleased with the outcome.
I will finish this post with some photos that I just happened to take of our room in this B&B hotel...we were told it was their 'family room' and wondered why they gave it to us. But we were very grateful that it was on the ground floor at the back, so no lugging cases up narrow staircases. :-)
We had a choice of 4 beds in which to sleep! lol
Two single beds in one corner...

One queen sized bed near the large windows...

Another single bed in the corner near the ensuite bathroom...

As well as all those beds we had a nice 2 seater sofa which was handy when the young police constable came to take our statement...in many of the rooms we stayed in, he would have had to perch on the edge of the bed while he wrote down all the details! lol

The National Railway Museum, York...

One thing that was definitely on our 'to do' list was a visit to this museum in York. We were able to walk from our B&B to the complex that houses this huge museum. The path runs along the river bank and it is all so peaceful...

After 15 or so minutes, we could see a large building on the other side of the river...our destination!

So we crossed a very conveniently placed bridge and headed towards the entry...

Warning! Photo 'overload'!
We started in one of the exhibition halls but when an announcement came over the PA that there would be a turntable demonstration in the Great hall, we headed there...

Very ornate Royal Coat of Arms on this engine...

 This is the engine that is turned around during demonstrations during the day we were there...(the link from the website shows a different train)

The man in the red shirt ran the turntable demo...

After the demonstration we wandered around the Great Hall...it was just amazing how many engines/carriages/tenders etc were on display...

 There were some replicas of very extremely old engines...

 Not so old...but electric not steam...

The next 2 photos show a large Chinese steam locomotive; I am dwarfed by this behemoth... (yes I know I'm only 5ft 2 in, but still...)

 It was huge!

A better view of that old electric loco...

 Another old electric loco...

 Some of the interactive display areas...

 Some carriages on an old Liverpool to Manchester service... what do you reckon? The wealthy in the yellow carriage and the poorer classes in the standing only carriage at the back?

 Here are some more views of this historic train...

 And finally the tiny little engine...

Some more modern trains were on display too of course...such as this Japanese loco...

 The Eurostar...

How's this for sleek lines? The Duchess of Hamilton.

One of those quaint railway bridges has been rebuilt inside the Great Hall...

 Some photos taken from the bridge...

This old loco and carriage rescued but not as yet restored...

 Another view from the bridge...

From the bridge a view of the cafe nestled beside a tiny old steam engine which sits beside a sleek electric train...

Meanwhile back on ground level...a miniature train too!

One floor of a building in the museum complex is jam packed with railway ephemera as well as more substantial objects rescued from old stations etc...the photo shows a very small section.

 In that same building there is a viewing area to look out over the present day railway line...and a train came along in no time at all!

 Then we came back to exhibition hall where we had first started...there are some magnificently restored engines and rolling stock here...

 There is also another cafe/restaurant here...a bit fancier than the one in the Great Hall near the railway bridge.

I think this was part of the train used for royal travel during Queen Victoria's reign...

Then it was time to go out of the buildings to where the rides on a replica Rocket train...here's the previous group coming back into the 'station'...

No seats...just standing room only...the round trip only takes about 11 minutes...I don't think I would like to ride from Liverpool to Manchester in that carriage! It's a rough old ride...quite jerky!lol

The brick buildings in the background are obviously old railway sheds but of course now form part of the museum complex...