London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), Princess Coronation Class, LMS No. 6235, British Railways No. 46235 City of Birmingham is a preserved British steam locomotive.
6235 was originally built in 1939 at Crewe, and entered LMS stock in July 1939, one of the third batch (Lot No. 150). As built she was streamlined and was the first to be fitted with a double chimney as built (previous locomotives being built with single chimneys and later modified). Livery was LMS crimson lake with cheat lines, but during the Second World War it acquired austere unlined black livery. Though it carried the name City of Birmingham from new, 6235 was officially named at a ceremony at Birmingham New Street on 20 March 1945, and a special coat of arms plate was then fitted above the nameplate. The streamlining was removed for maintenance reasons in April 1946, becoming the first streamliner to be destreamlined, and at the same time same time she was fitted with smoke deflectors, and livery continued to be black.
6235 passed to British Railways ownership in 1948, and in March was given the BR number 46235. This was applied in May. She was one of the engines given the short-lived blue livery for top express passenger engines in 1950. In April 1952, the semi-streamlined sloping smokebox front was replaced with a round-topped smokebox. She was repainted into BR Brunswick Green livery from April 1953. She carried this last livery through withdrawal in September 1964 and through into preservation.
46235 was prepared by BR for preservation, and after storage at Nuneaton Shed, moved to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, which was built around her. After closure of that museum she was moved into the Thinktank, Birmingham science museum in 1997.
She has not been worked in preservation, though steaming has occasionally been mooted in the railway press. She is really too large for most preserved lines, though ideal for main line work. Convincing her owners may be difficult however. A sign displayed by her in the museum explains that she is too tall for the national network (and would foul OHLE), while this is strictly true, the cab and boiler mountings could be modified to be lowered to bring her back into gauge, as has happened to the other two preserved Duchesses (4)6229 Duchess of Hamilton and (4)6233 Duchess of Sutherland. As of 2009, campaigns to restore 6235 and restore her to mainline condition have gone ahead, though have so far not been successful.
Jon Price, who runs the www.madeinbirmingham.org website, approached the museum in 1985 to see if there could be any chance of getting the locomotive back into service. He was told by the then curator that the engine could never be restored because 'new parts' would have to be used and that would be not in line with the policy for the locomotives preservation at the museum.