Birmingham Area panel commence their IMechE 175 celebrations

As a start to the Institution’s 175th Anniversary celebrations, the Birmingham Area panel recently attended a private guided tour of the Birmingham ThinkTank Science Museum. John Butler, Education Officer for the IMechE Midland Region, tells us more.

“The ThinkTank Museum is located on Curzon Street in Birmingham, next to the site of the Queens Hotel where the inaugural and early meetings of the Institution were held.  It was considered most appropriate for this anniversary year.

Thirty members and guests from the region heard talks from museum staff on the Smethwick Engine, the Railton Mobil Special Land Speed Record car of John Cobb and the iconic Supermarine Spitfire Aircraft.  All these exhibits have close ties to the Birmingham area with the Railton car being sponsored by the Birmingham factory of Dunlop Tyres and more than 15,000 Spitfire aircraft being built at the Castle Bromwich factory (now a Jaguar Land Rover plant).

Boulton and Watt’s Smethwick engine was used to pump water back to the summit of the Birmingham Canal.  This engine ran for over 100 years through to 1891 and is today the only working model still running throughout the world.  It gained an IMechE Heritage award in 2014.

Following the presentations and refreshments, the visitors were free to view the many hundreds of other exhibits at the museum including the massive LMS Coronation Class “City of Birmingham” locomotive which ran from 1939 to 1964, through to the rather smaller other iconic vehicle - the “mini” car made in their thousands at the Longbridge plant south of the city.

An excellent visit.”

Join the Celebration

You can find out more about John and the Midland Region by watching our IMechE 175 celebratory video.
Visit our IMechE 175 webpage to hear more about our upcoming plans.
Explore our IMechE 175 Events Schedule
Take a look at our IMechE 175 Anniversary Gallery
Discover our IMechE 175 Special Offers 

Contact Us

Do you have a story to share or event to promote? Contact us at imeche.175@imeche.org