A Climate Friendly Day on the Rails

As part of Scotland’s Climate Week Lucy Neville, MGS Climate Officer, spent an afternoon with volunteer Chris to find out more about the Museum of Scottish Railway’s green activities.

The day was eye-opening for everyone.  In this blog, we share some highlights from the day, point out an easy to overlook environmental addition to the Museum building, and share future plans to develop climate conversations around our collections. 

A tour around Bo’ness

Meeting at the Inner Forth Bike Bus stop in Bo’ness, Chris and Lucy took a leisurely walk to the railway station, touring our nest box sites, admiring the biodiversity gardens, and exploring our newly acquired concept hydrogen train. Lucy had time to add some species sightings to our recording project, noting a green cellar slug and a stoat on the walk.

A trip to Birkhill

After getting a different perspective of the site from the cab of the engine and having a chat to the driver about renewable fuels being tested on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, the group went up the line to Birkhill to see the habitats that have grown up around the old clay mine cable railway and explore the woodland. A specimen of invasive Himalayan Balsam was duly uprooted, and healthy ash seeds collected to further a study into ash dieback.

Solar power

Heading back towards the Museum after alighting from the train, Lucy commented specifically on the impressive solar array installed on the roof of the Exhibition Halls.  This is a relatively new addition to the Museum, made possible through the support of Museums Galleries Scotland.  The panels can be quite difficult to spot (unless you happen to be standing in the yard) but they have proved extremely efficient and now generate a large proportion of the electricity we use.  This makes them well worth pointing out!

Looking to the future

Walking around the Museum, Lucy was enthusiastic about opportunities to talk about climate within and around our collections.  These include transporting food and eating local, active travel, train travel as the greener choice for seeing the country, building to last using traditional craft techniques, and recycling/ reuse of industrial materials.  Look out for these themes in 2025.  

A word from Lucy

“It was really beneficial to see the whole – you have so much biodiversity already and so much opportunity to share that with the public. I really loved the mixture of the truly wild areas and the more man-made spaces for nature – bird boxes, insect hotels and planters. The more wild areas are teeming with life. The more man made spaces for nature are a great way to show visitors (especially those from more urban areas) what they can be doing themselves to make space for nature.”

Read Lucy’s full report of her day on the MGS blog and find out why public transport, coupled with active transport, is a recipe for a great museum adventure.

#ScotClimateWeek

Green facts from around the railway

• Ragwort grows well in poor soil and ballast and trains spread the seeds as they travel.
• Buzzards follow our trains in the morning as the vibrations on the rails send the mice out and about.