The museum is located near the railway station in York. A train from the center of the city provides transport to the museum. There is no admission fee and it is open from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening.

The entire collection located in the National Railway Museum reaches almost 280 vehicles, including over 100 locomotives. The locomotives are often transferred to other museums in the area, including the Locomotion at Shidon. Perhaps the most impressive among all the displays is the ?Palace on Wheels? display. It is composed of a collection of trains dating back to the time of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. Some of the first vehicles used in that time are now on display at the museum in part to preserve them.

Another popular exhibit is the Furness Railway No. 3. The old English steam locomotive is also known as ?Coppernob?. One prominent feature of the ?Coppernob? is the copper firebox steam engine. It is important historically due to it being a survivor of that particular period in time. The LNER Class A3 4472, more popularly known as the Flying Scotsman, is another popular exhibit. It is also slated for occasional operational use as part of a railway network. However, it is more commonly used for promotional purposes these days. It is one of the most famous locomotives due to the amount of exposure gained in both children's books and the PC game Microsoft Train Simulator.

Several vehicles are also imported. One such example of this is the Chinese Class KF Locomotive. It was originally built in Britain and was used as part of the Night Ferry service located in Paris and London. The Night Ferry is a sleeper train, which is a type of railroad passenger car that usually travels during nighttime. It is able to seat a lot of passengers per trip. Another vehicle, the Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen Bullet Train, was given by the West Japan Railway Company. It is the only bullet train located outside of Japan.

The collections are not just composed of locomotive displays. Other items of note include railway timepieces. Watches used for timekeeping purposes during railway operation are on display. Station platform clocks, guard watches and office clocks are just some of the items on display. Railway tickets are another prominent display. Different kinds of tickets are on display too, from gold passes to simple ticket stubs.

Railway models are another significant portion of the collection. The museum has a host of models with significant historical importance. There is also a substantial collection of toy trains built for commercial purposes.

Another exhibit pertains to the railway coins and medals used in the past. These coins were typically used during the construction of the railway systems themselves and were used mostly for trade.