Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester)
| Museum of Science and Industry | |
|---|---|
|
This structure marks the entrance to the museum and reflects its science/industrial themes | |
  Location within Greater Manchester | |
| Established | 15 September 1983 |
| Location | Liverpool Road, Manchester |
| Coordinates | 53°28′37″N 2°15′20″W / 53.47694°N 2.25556°WCoordinates: 53°28′37″N 2°15′20″W / 53.47694°N 2.25556°W |
| Type | Science museum |
| Visitors |
830,000 (2011)[1]
|
| Public transit access |
Metroshuttle  – Green Route |
| Website | www.mosi.org.uk |
| Science Museum Group | |
| |
The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester, England, is a large museum devoted to the development of science, technology and industry with emphasis on the city's achievements in these fields. The museum is part of the Science Museum Group, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, having merged with the National Science Museum in 2012.[2]
There are extensive displays on the theme of transport (cars, aircraft, railway locomotives and rolling stock), power (water, electricity, steam and gas engines), Manchester's sewerage and sanitation, textiles, communications and computing.
The museum is an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage; and is situated on the site of the world's first railway station – Manchester Liverpool Road – which opened as part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in September 1830. The train station frontage and 1830 warehouse are both Grade I listed. The museum also offers steam train rides at weekends and on bank holidays.
History
The museum was originally called the North Western Museum of Science and Industry when it opened in 1969 in temporary premises on Grosvenor Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock. It had close ties with UMIST, having mostly grown out of the Department of History of Science & Technology.
In 1978, the Greater Manchester Council purchased the earliest part of the former Liverpool Road Station from British Rail, which had been closed in 1975. The council paid the nominal sum of £1 for the site. The museum opened at this site on 15 September 1983 and later expanded to include the whole of the former station.[3]
Since 2007 the museum has organised an annual science festival in Manchester.
Exhibitions
Exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry include:
Aircraft:
- A complete RAF Avro Shackleton and other Avro machines, built locally at Chadderton and Woodford
- A Supermarine Spitfire
- A Hawker Hunter
Computing:
- A replica of the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine
Locomotives:
- Ericsson's Novelty – A replica incorporating parts from the original locomotive of 1829.
- British Rail Class 77 No. 27001 'Ariadne' – A 1.5 kV DC electric locomotive built by Metropolitan-Vickers in 1953.
- South African Railways GL class Garratt No. 2352 – Built in 1929 by Beyer, Peacock and Company, Manchester.
- Pakistan Railways 4–4–0 – A broad gauge locomotive built by Beyer, Peacock and Company.
A Connected Earth gallery that tells the history of communications in Manchester and the North West of England opened in October 2007.
Past exhibits include:
- Body Worlds 4 between 22 February and 29 June 2008[4]
- LMR 57 Lion Britain's oldest steamable locomotive (now in Liverpool)
The Railway
On selected dates, visitors may ride on demonstration passenger trains within the museum grounds. Trains are hauled by the museum's two operational steam locomotives:
- 'Planet' – A replica of Robert Stephenson and Company's Planet class locomotive, built by the Friends of the Museum of Science and Industry in 1992. The original locomotive was constructed in 1830 and hauled trains on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
- 'Agecroft No. 1' – An 0–4–0 saddle tank built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns in 1948 for use at Agecroft Power Station. Restored to working order in 2011.
The museum's railway line is connected to the national rail network near Ordsall Lane Junction. However, Network Rail's proposed Ordsall Chord railway link will sever the main line connection to MOSI and dramatically reduce the scale of the museum's railway operations. Should the scheme go ahead, then the museum's public train rides are likely to cease running in late 2014.
See also
References
- ↑ "Support us – Museum of Science and Industry". Museum of Science and Industry. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ↑ "Manchester's MOSI and London's Science Museum to merge". BBC News. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
- ↑ "History of the Museum — MOSI". Museum of Science and Industry. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ↑ MOSI. "BODY WORLDS 4: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies". Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
External links
Media related to Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester at Wikimedia Commons
- Official Website
- Official facebook page
- Aeroflight List of Aero collection
- Entry in 24 Hour Museum
- MOSI history from mosi.org.uk
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