Focalplane
Western Thunderer
As part of my project, building a Finney7 Princess Coronation, I visited the Birmingham Science Museum on February 19th. As it coincided with half term holidays I arrived at opening time and queued for a few minutes. The place was certainly busy. Buying my entry ticket I explained I was only planning on being in the museum for a couple of hours to photograph one exhibit, and would there be a concessionary price? I was given a £5 discount at the discretion of the staff member who clearly had great affection for 46235.
Although buzzing with families the area around the locomotive was not busy so I set to work, starting in the cab.
But first a few comments. As many have said, the space is cramped, particularly by comparison with the old location on Newhall Street. The loco and tender are not coupled which allows a wider platform but spoils the look of the complete locomotive. Decking at footplate level hides the lower right hand side and on the left hand side there is a pillar in front of the cylinder/slide bar area. Lighting is also difficult for good photography.
The museum curator(s) have been adamant that no work should be done other than a regular dusting. The underside is in poor shape and has asbestos warning labels under the cab. Above the footplate the condition is cosmetic rather than showroom and the original touch ups of the paint are very obvious, the green having faded more where it was touched up. British Railways would have done a full restoration job on the paintwork at a price that the new owner (the city) would not pay. Certain views, such as the smokebox door, are better than others!
Compared to a restored heritage locomotive, such as Duchess of Sutherland or even an 8F freight loco, the cylinder embellishments are painted black and rather crudely so. This was a “withdrawn at end of service life” locomotive and as such is quite different from rebuilds and new builds in that respect.
City of Birmingham is a defrocked streamliner and has the utility front end. Its tender is the original one (not many retained the same tender throughout) and has the rear ladder, etc. The steam coal pusher is intact, some of them were simplified. Edit, lowest pusher was removed, see comment by P A D below.
My research has cleared up one “misunderstanding” in that the “south of Crewe” yellow stripe on the cab sides was applied prior to withdrawal and was photographed on the loco when it was stored at Nuneaton shed. After several months at Nuneaton the loco was towed back to Crewe for the cosmetic work to be done and this included the yellow stripe removal. Only then did City of Birmingham go back south, directly to Saltley and then by road to the Museum of Science and Industry. Photographs taken at Saltley and during the road transfer do show the cosmetic restoration and at the time it was very presentable. Today it is starting to look a little tired.
OK, on with the photos. Some editing to compensate for difficult exposures has been done, mainly to bring out details - captions below each photo.
Upper cab backhead view. Note white paint stops at base of cab side windows
Lower cab backhead view
Cab left hand side (Driver)
Cab right hand side (Fireman)
Tender front, right hand side (i.e. behind Fireman). Shows the tool space and spare lamp brackets at top. The coal space is covered by a perspex barrier.
Tender front, left hand side (i.e. behind Driver). Self explanatory labels, some of which may not be original?
Rear of tender showing ladder from defrocked original streamlined tender. The rearward extension of the tender sides was longer in original form.
Right hand side of tender rear. The "overhead wire" warnings were retained.
The all important works and water capacity plates. Also the two distinct lamp brackets.
The lower portion of the ex-streamlined tender ladder. This is faithfully reproduced in the Finney7 kit.
Completion of first ten photo uploads. More to come.
Although buzzing with families the area around the locomotive was not busy so I set to work, starting in the cab.
But first a few comments. As many have said, the space is cramped, particularly by comparison with the old location on Newhall Street. The loco and tender are not coupled which allows a wider platform but spoils the look of the complete locomotive. Decking at footplate level hides the lower right hand side and on the left hand side there is a pillar in front of the cylinder/slide bar area. Lighting is also difficult for good photography.
The museum curator(s) have been adamant that no work should be done other than a regular dusting. The underside is in poor shape and has asbestos warning labels under the cab. Above the footplate the condition is cosmetic rather than showroom and the original touch ups of the paint are very obvious, the green having faded more where it was touched up. British Railways would have done a full restoration job on the paintwork at a price that the new owner (the city) would not pay. Certain views, such as the smokebox door, are better than others!
Compared to a restored heritage locomotive, such as Duchess of Sutherland or even an 8F freight loco, the cylinder embellishments are painted black and rather crudely so. This was a “withdrawn at end of service life” locomotive and as such is quite different from rebuilds and new builds in that respect.
City of Birmingham is a defrocked streamliner and has the utility front end. Its tender is the original one (not many retained the same tender throughout) and has the rear ladder, etc. The steam coal pusher is intact, some of them were simplified. Edit, lowest pusher was removed, see comment by P A D below.
My research has cleared up one “misunderstanding” in that the “south of Crewe” yellow stripe on the cab sides was applied prior to withdrawal and was photographed on the loco when it was stored at Nuneaton shed. After several months at Nuneaton the loco was towed back to Crewe for the cosmetic work to be done and this included the yellow stripe removal. Only then did City of Birmingham go back south, directly to Saltley and then by road to the Museum of Science and Industry. Photographs taken at Saltley and during the road transfer do show the cosmetic restoration and at the time it was very presentable. Today it is starting to look a little tired.
OK, on with the photos. Some editing to compensate for difficult exposures has been done, mainly to bring out details - captions below each photo.
Upper cab backhead view. Note white paint stops at base of cab side windows
Lower cab backhead view
Cab left hand side (Driver)
Cab right hand side (Fireman)
Tender front, right hand side (i.e. behind Fireman). Shows the tool space and spare lamp brackets at top. The coal space is covered by a perspex barrier.
Tender front, left hand side (i.e. behind Driver). Self explanatory labels, some of which may not be original?
Rear of tender showing ladder from defrocked original streamlined tender. The rearward extension of the tender sides was longer in original form.
Right hand side of tender rear. The "overhead wire" warnings were retained.
The all important works and water capacity plates. Also the two distinct lamp brackets.
The lower portion of the ex-streamlined tender ladder. This is faithfully reproduced in the Finney7 kit.
Completion of first ten photo uploads. More to come.
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