A steam locomotive named the City of Birmingham has been preserved and is now in Thinktank (where it can't move). Previously it was housed in the old Birmingham Museum of Science & Industry on Newhall Street until it closed in 1997. The public could see it again at Thinktank from 2001 onwards. In British Rail green. A bit hard to photograph all in one go due to where they put it.

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City of Birmingham 46235 at Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum


City of Birmingham 46235 at Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum


A steam locomotive named the City of Birmingham has been preserved and is now in Thinktank (where it can't move). Previously it was housed in the old Birmingham Museum of Science & Industry on Newhall Street until it closed in 1997. The public could see it again at Thinktank from 2001 onwards. In British Rail green. A bit hard to photograph all in one go due to where they put it.


City of Birmingham 46235

Built for the London Midland and Scottish Railway it was a Coronation Class steam locomotive originally with the number of 6235 and was built in 1939 at Crewe. It passed to British Railways in 1948 and was renamed to 46235. It's original colour was crimson lake, but during the Second World War it was given a black livery. The naming ceremony took place for the City of Birmingham at Birmingham New Street Station in March 1945, despite it having the name for years.

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After British Railways took it over in 1948, it was given a new short lived blue livery in 1950. It was repainted in Brunswick Green in April 1953. It was withdrawn from service in 1964 and kept the green livery through it's preservation.

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The Birmingham Museum of Science & Industry opened in 1951 at the former Elkington Works on Newhall Street. After a period at Nuneaton during preservation, the City of Birmingham locomotive was moved to the museum in 1966 which they built around it. It remained there until 1997 when the museum closed. This museum was free to enter.

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Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum opened to the public in 2001 at Millennium Point, where they again built the new building / museum around where they placed the locomotive. In a fixed position so it can't move, but they built a pathway to the side so visitors can get up and close to it. The museum has an entrance fee (but you can get a discount if you get a bus or train voucher online).

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There is information panels on this side, close to where you can see the City of Birmingham name plate, plus the cities coat of arms.

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Light from the Millennium Point windows at the time made it a bit hard to get photos in decent light, but that may have changed since my visit. Although even with the bright light and the new Science Garden outside in Eastside City Park, may still make it a bit hard to see, unless it's a cloudy day.

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If you want to get a photo of the side of the locomotive all in one, then it's simply not possible. I had to take a series of photos and later stitch them together to make a panoramic, then alter the photo. My visit with these photos was in 2013.

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This is as close as you can get from the front. The locomotive has not steamed since it was preserved back in the 1960s, and anyone wishes to see it on the mainline or on heritage railways in the future, then they would have to remove the wall and windows in front of the locomotive. Having the Thinktank Science Garden in front from 2012 onwards also makes it difficult to remove. I remember seeing it in the old Science Museum on Newhall Street in the 1990s. Back then it may have been able to go back and forward on the rails, but it can't do that now at Thinktank, it's in a fixed position.

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Photos taken by Elliott Brown.