A day at the Science Museum

Why do I feel a little nervous today?

I’ve worked in the rail industry for years. I should be confident when travelling by train - and I am generally. On my frequent trips between Newcastle to Peterborough to visit my mother I’ve had very few problems. So why do I feel more than a little concerned?

I’m nervous because I have my three nephews with me. They’re well-behaved boys who are easy to look after but two of them use wheelchairs. I have never taken them out before. My car has a boot barely big enough to take a weekly shop let alone two wheelchairs and I’ve always thought public transport would be too much hassle. But today, that’s all about to change.

I am visiting Patrick (14), Connor (12) and Michael (9) in their native Birmingham and as any aunt worth their weight knows, a day out is a must. I give the boys a choice of where to go and they pick… the Science Museum… in London. Patrick who has autism recently received an award at school for excelling in Science so it’s a chance for him to show off to me.

Oh well, if I’m going to try public transport I may as well jump in at the deep end! We’ll be travelling from Birmingham New Street to London Euston - two of the busiest stations on the UK rail network. If I can travel on this route using Disabled assistance, I can travel anywhere.
Andrea my sister-in-law and my husband Dom accompany us to help manoeuvre the wheelchairs and handle the boys’ personal care. Connor and Michael both have Spina Bifida. This is also a chance for Andrea to experience rail travel with the boys as she hasn’t been on a train since they were babies.

09.30 Two taxis arrive to collect us and take us to New Street. There aren’t any companies who have a car that can carry two wheelchairs so we split up and agree to meet up at the station. I take Connor with me and Andrea takes Michael and Patrick. The taxi company insists there is at least one adult in each taxi and apparently this is standard practice, so is worth bearing in mind when travelling with children. “Where are you from?” Connor asks our taxi driver. He then impresses him with some newly acquired Urdu learned from school. This is all part of the adventure and Connor is inquisitive as the taxi ride is a new experience for him. “What do all these lights do?”, “What will happen if I take the breaks off my chair?”, “I’m not sure, but don’t try it!!” I laugh.

09.50 We arrive at Birmingham New Street and go to the customer reception to let staff know we are at the station and require some help. We’re half an hour early to make sure things go smoothly. “Take a seat and somebody will be with you shortly” the receptionist tells me. “This seems straight-forward” I think to myself as I sit in the waiting area playing games with the boys.

10.15 A man from Virgin Trains pops over to see us in the waiting area. He kindly offers to help push one of the boys in a wheelchair, but I decline. The station is very accessible and can accommodate even my inexperienced wheelchair driving. He guides us to our train and puts out a ramp so we can get the wheelchairs on to the carriage. “That was really easy!” Michael says sounding pleasantly surprised.

10.30 The train leaves Birmingham on time and Connor asks excitedly, “Is this as fast as one of those bullet trains you get in Japan?” Worried he’ll be disappointed with a no I tell him we’ll be in London in an hour and a half and although we won’t be going as fast as a Bullet train we are on a tilting train called a Pendolino.

“Wow, that’s cool!” he says sounding suitably impressed. The boys get out their Nintendo’s to pass the time whilst Andrea and I grab a chance to chill out with a complimentary cup of tea and newspaper. This definitely beats driving.

12.00 We arrive at London Euston and sit for a few minutes whilst everybody else departs the train. This is the part of the journey which has been worrying me. “What if nobody turns up and the train leaves with me and my nephews still stuck on it?” After five minutes I feel myself beginning to panic but remain patient. Sure enough somebody turns up with a ramp. Ahmed, who works as station staff for Network Rail helps us off the train.

The journey between Euston and South Kensington is not accessible to wheelchair users so we opt for a taxi. Ahmed guides us to a taxi rank via some lifts. The route is complicated and having somebody show us the way saves loads of time. All of the taxis in the rank are wheelchair accessible and have ramps to get the chairs in and out of the cars. Again, we need two taxis but there are plenty available to take us to The Science Museum.

12.30 The Science Museum. The journey here took longer than expected as the traffic was busy. We decide to go for lunch straight away and then start at the top floor and work our way down. We begin with medical science, which was interesting but not fun enough for us so we give up half way round and go to the “launch pad” section. This is more interactive and we laugh as Connor is picked to be a volunteer to demonstrate a thermal imaging camera. He gets to use an ice cube to draw a moustache on his face which looks funny on the TV screens.
We then go on to watch a demonstration about rockets. I cover my ears as an empty Pringles tube is filled with hydrogen and lit with a match. There’s a loud bang! The boys love it and laugh. “Maybe we could make a rocket for the train on the way home and put it on the back so we go faster” Michael suggests. “I’m not sure we’ll be allowed to do that!” I laugh.

We then take a look at some space memorabilia and Patrick seems impressed at seeing a real space suit. We didn’t get a chance to see everything in the Museum as we hadn’t anticipated how much there was to see but this was brilliant fun and I’d recommend it highly for a day out.

17.30 There aren’t any taxis outside the museum and we encounter our first real problem. How do we get back to the station? I contact a number of local private hire firms, but nobody seems to have any cars which are wheelchair accessible. I use the internet facility on my mobile to search for help and finally find a company called Radio Cars which sent out two accessible cars straight away.

18.00 We arrive at Euston staff to find the staff waiting in buggies beside the taxi rank. They take us to the assistance point. The station is still very busy from the afternoon commute and we have to wait a while to be served in the reception area. Luckily we have arrived in plenty of time. We are asked to take a seat until a member of staff guides us to our train and gets a ramp ready. Despite being incredibly busy, every member of staff we deal with is friendly and helpful.

18.45 The journey home is a pleasant one as we get complimentary dinner on the train and enjoy chatting about our day out. Connor and Michael shared one wheelchair space between both chairs. There was plenty of space for both boys to have dinner and I would recommend enquiring about this if you do need to travel with two wheelchairs.

I’m intrigued as to what the boys have thought about travelling by rail. “I liked it – there’s more space in here than our car and it’s easy to get on and off the train,” Michael explains. “I liked it as well,” Connor advised me. “It’s faster than our car so means we get there quicker and we get to have dinner on the way home”.

 The day out was a success. Travelling by rail proved to be quick, easy and comfortable. I will definitely be taking my nephews out again and would almost certainly go by rail. My nephews loved the train and it added an extra dimension to our day out and I got to impress them with a fantastic day out and be the super aunt I should be.

Andrea’s opinion of the day: “Travelling by rail is not something I’ve done with the boys since they were in a push chair. I’ve always thought it might be a bit awkward but was pleasantly surprised. Getting around London proved expensive due to the fact we needed two cars. Most families would only have one wheelchair and it would be a lot cheaper if that was the case.

“The train facilities were good, but I did find changing the boys in the toilet difficult as there was no bench to lay them on. In retrospect I’d probably plan changes before and after the train on short journeys like this one. I found all of the rail staff friendly and helpful and this would give me confidence to travel by train again.

“The Science Museum was brilliant, I would go back but would plan more time there as there is so much to do. It was easy to get around with the wheelchairs but some of the attractions were not accessible as they could not be reached from a wheelchair and some of the doors could be replaced to be automatic and this would make life easier”.

How we travelled
Virgin Trains (First Class) – For ticket prices and times see the National Rail Enquiries website or call 08457 484950.

If you're travelling with one or more child, then you might want to consider a Family & Friends Railcard which gives discounts for groups of up to four adults and four children travelling together.

Science Museum
Entry to the Science Museum is free but some attractions inside require tickets. For more information see www.sciencemuseum.org.uk .

British Sign Language (BSL) users might also be interested to know that the museum offers events with BSL - click here for more details.

Tips for making your journey easier
Book assistance at least 24 hours in advance and arrive at the station 30 minutes before your train is due to depart. Call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or visit www.nationalrail.co.uk to view the accessibility of the stations you would like to use. Travelling by Rail on this website has useful advice and contact details for disabled people planning their journeys.

Transport for London offers a range of online services for cross-London journeys see the Travel Tools page on its website .

Book taxis in advance and check they are accessible if you need them to be. Transport for London's online Findaride service is a good place to start. 

Transport for London has a door-to-door Dial-A-Ride service available for Disabled Passengers that live in London. You can also request a temporary pass if you are visiting from outside of London but you need to apply for this well in advance. See the Transport for London website for further information.