The National Railway Museum in York has received £2.5m from The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation to fund a new interactive gallery for families called Wonderlab.

The gift from the Yorkshire-based charitable foundation is the largest single donation to be received by the museum, excluding lottery grants.

Due to open in May 2023 on the site of the museum’s former workshop, the gallery will be known as Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery and will host family and school visits.

The gallery will be packed with interactive exhibits with a rail engineering theme and is based on successful Wonderlab galleries installed at the Science Museum in London and at the Science and Media Museum in Bradford.

The gift will enable young people to learn about science and engineering through hands on learning and at 1,466m2, Wonderlab will be the museum’s most significant new family offer since opening in 1975. Up to 81,000 people are expected to visit the gallery in the first year.

Dr Terry Bramall CBE said: “It is my pleasure to support the creation of the new Wonderlab gallery to the sum of £2.5m spread over 10 years. Liz and I are thrilled to pledge this significant investment which will benefit many young people in the region, and we hope that this gift will enable its work to continue for many decades.”