Museum Meals – The Electric Railway Museum

On the outskirts of Coventry is a railway museum that contains a small cafe, inside an old railway carriage.

Sadly, the museum and the cafe are about to close down, so you have just this weekend and a weekend in October to sample the cafe’s delights.

To get to the cafe though is a mini-adventure course, up a flight of metal steps to get into a railway carriage, then past the museum displays, don’t be distracted by the book shop in the neighbouring carriage, squeeze around the guards cabin, and into the cafe.

It’s a British Rail buffet car!

Actually, it’s the Clacton Café, so called as it is converted from a 1960s Clacton Express train. You can sit outside if you want, which on a summer’s day is lovely, but why not relax in an old railway carriage instead.

Lunch was coffee and a heated sausage roll.

Coffee was served in those solid old-fashioned mugs that are so rare in these paper-cup times, and “lunch” was table-service, so off to grab a seat and a moment later, lunch arrived.

Now, lets be honest, it’s a microwave heated sausage roll, so hardly going to win any prizes, but service was charming, the price for this Londoner below belief and the coffee basic, but refreshing. It filled a hole in a part of town that lacks any real alternatives.

You’re not often going to get to sup in a museum cafe that’s a railway carriage, and as the museum is closing in October, sadly, even less chance in the future.

Cost: £2.00 for a sausage roll and coffee

Stars: 4 out of 5

Date: 13th August 2017

Summary: Basic fare served with a smile in a charming venue. Sadly about to close down.

The Electric Railway Museum