Museum of Science and Industry

Please note that the Power Hall will be closed to the general public on the dates below due to the Real Ale Festival. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Thu 22 March - Power Hall will close at 2pm
Fri 23 March - Power Hall will close at 2pm
Sat 24 March - Power Hall closed all day

Steam power was vital to Manchester's industrial development. The Power Hall houses one of the largest collections of working steam mill engines in the world. At present these engines are not working because we need to install a new boiler.  The engines include a beam engine used at Haydock Colliery and the impressive 1907 McNaught engine from Firgrove Mill.

The Power Hall also contains working examples of gas, oil, hot-air and diesel engines.  These were made by local companies such as Crossley Brothers and the National Gas Engine Co. Ltd.  The two newest exhibits are a Galloways pumping engine and a towering 30-tonne hydraulic accumulator.

The former railway transit shed provides a fitting setting for locomotives and rolling stock.  Get close up to a replica of Novelty, which ran in the famous 1829 Rainhill Trials.  Nearby is the Beyer-Garratt articulated steam locomotive, the largest exhibit in the Power Hall. Made at Beyer, Peacock's Gorton factory in 1930, this Garratt ran on the South African Railways until 1972.