A NEW exhibition is coming to Darlington’s Head of Steam Railway Museum at the weekend.

Based at North Road station, the museum will be presenting a collection of Victorian Optical Toys, on loan from the Vivacity Museum in Peterborough, that visitors can interact with.

The hands-on exhibition begins on Saturday, January 13 and will display peculiar instruments like the phenakistocope and the thaumatrope, 19th-Century toys that were some of the first forms of moving image.

Leona White-Hannant, Head of Steam’s Manager Curator, said: “We’re really excited about the exhibition, with the February half-term coming up we thought it would be a lovely thing for families to do.”

There will be information boards explaining the secrets behind each illusion, and opportunities for visitors to learn the magic and make their own at home.

Mrs White-Hannant added: “Some people think the Victorians can be quite boring, but this just shows how they did enjoy creating entertaining pastimes with magical illusions and moving image. For the era these were really clever inventions.

“We’re delighted to have on loan to the museum this fun, hands-on exhibition. We hope you have as much fun finding out about these fascinating Victorian Optical Toys as we did.”

The exhibition will run until Sunday, March 4. More information about exhibits can be found at head-of-steam.co.uk