Donating Objects

We will be accepting items under exceptional circumstances while the museum is undergoing its redevelopment in 2023.

We collect objects relating to the railways of North East England, with emphasis on the Darlington area.

This can include archive material, photographs, costume, tools and items used on the railways.

How do we decide what to collect?

• Does it relate to the railways of North East England or Darlington?
• Is it in good condition?
• Do we already have one in the collection?
• Does the item have a history or a provenance?
• Does the object fit in with our Collecting Policy?

The collections policy [pdf document] allows us to manage how many objects enter the collection and ensures that we do not collect objects that we cannot store properly or that would be of more benefit in another museum.

If you would like to donate items to the museum you must first contact the Curator either by telephone, email or letter.

If the item meets all the requirements above the Curator will ask you to complete two forms (an entry form and a transfer of title form).

This means that you have donated the object to the museum and it is now part of the museum collection.

If the object does not meet all requirements and we are unable to accession the item into the museum collection we may ask if we can use the object with school groups as part of an education handling box.

Otherwise the item will be returned.