{"id":290519,"date":"2025-09-24T19:18:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=183056"},"modified":"2025-09-24T19:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:18:42","slug":"new-hs2-exhibition-opens-at-thinktank-birmingham-science-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=290519","title":{"rendered":"New HS2 exhibition opens at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HS2 has teamed up with Thinktank, Birmingham\u2019s award-winning science museum, to launch a brand-new exhibition celebrating the city\u2019s past, present and future connection to the railways.<\/p>\n

The family-friendly showcase forms part of the nationwide \u2018Railway 200\u2019 celebrations, which mark 200 years since the birth of the modern railways. HS2\u2019s year-long exhibition officially opens on Saturday, 27th September \u2013 the date of the world\u2019s first passenger train journey along the Stockton and Darlington Railway.<\/p>\n

Visitors will be transported back in time as they learn about construction of the Kilsby Tunnel \u2013 almost 200 years ago \u2013 on the route of the original London to Birmingham railway. The Kilsby Tunnel took nearly five years to complete by hand, with workers using pickaxes and dynamite.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, the exhibition tells the story of how HS2\u2019s engineers safely completed the first section of the 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel – linking North Warwickshire and Birmingham \u2013 in just 22 months.<\/p>\n

An immersive audio-visual experience will illustrate HS2\u2019s advances in civil engineering and technology. It plays the real sounds of a 1,600-tonne tunnel boring machine (TBM) hard at work, slicing through the earth, while a short film shows how the giant machine was assembled before being powered into action. Two cutter discs, taken from one of HS2\u2019s giant TBMs, will also be on display.<\/p>\n

Luke Nipen, head of community engagement at HS2 Ltd said: \u201cBirmingham\u2019s historic and future connection to the railways is a fascinating story and we wanted to bring that to life for visitors of all ages as part of the Railway 200 celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinktank\u2019s prime location, directly opposite the site where HS2\u2019s brand-new terminus station will be built, brings the whole experience to life for visitors. On arrival, they will see the sheer scale of the progress we are making to bring high speed rail into Birmingham for the very first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 12,500 people in the West Midlands are currently helping to build HS2, and the story of what it was like to work 40 metres below the ground, inside the 125-metre-long tunnel boring machine, is brought to life by Tunnelcraft Pit Boss, Steve Rocke, who managed the underground team that built the Bromford Tunnel.<\/p>\n

A veteran of the tunnelling industry, with 43 years\u2019 experience, Steve is now in the final stages of his civil engineering career. Bromford Tunnel, which is being delivered by HS2\u2019s construction partner in the Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI, is Steve\u2019s last mission before retirement. The past three and a half years working on HS2 have enabled him to pass on his skills and experience to the next generation of tunnellers.<\/p>\n

Steve said: \u201cI\u2019m immensely proud to finish my career working on HS2, a monumental feat of engineering that will ultimately bring the UK\u2019s two biggest cities closer together. Knowing that rail passengers of the future will speed through the tunnels I have helped to build really is a privilege.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs my career draws to a close, I look to the young men and women that have joined us as apprentices and graduates with admiration, knowing that they will play an important role in shaping the next 200 years of Britain\u2019s rail story. Hopefully one or two visitors to the museum will feel inspired to join them too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through its partnership with Thinktank, it aims to and encourage more young people, and adults, to find out more about Britain\u2019s new railway and play a role in its construction.<\/p>\n

Toby Watley, director of collections and estate at Thinktank said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be part of the Railway 200 celebrations, which commemorate Birmingham\u2019s proud railway heritage and look ahead to its exciting future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinktank is all about sparking curiosity, and this exhibition gives families the chance to step inside the story of rail \u2013 from the early days of Birmingham\u2019s locomotives to the high-speed journeys of the future. We hope it inspires young visitors in particular to imagine themselves as the engineers and innovators of tomorrow shaping the next 200 years of rail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birmingham\u2019s Thinktank museum is open Wednesday – Sunday, 10am\u20135pm.<\/p>\n

Image credit: HS2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>HS2 has teamed up with Thinktank, Birmingham\u2019s award-winning science museum, to launch a brand-new exhibition celebrating the city\u2019s past, present and future connection to the railways. The family-friendly showcase forms part of the nationwide \u2018Railway 200\u2019 celebrations, which mark 200 years since the birth of the modern railways. HS2\u2019s year-long exhibition officially opens on Saturday, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16013,53,1089,16017,47,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-high-speed-rail","category-hs2","category-industry-news","category-rail-news","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=290519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290520,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290519\/revisions\/290520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}