Birmingham Museums Collection Open Day
 

Thanks to sparkright's tip off I went to Birmingham this morning to look around the giant Museums Collection building in the city and see the two engines stored there, Aveling & Porter 2992 and Burrell Tractor 4084 "Busy Bee".

I can remember Busy Bee in steam at the old Newhall Street rallies and I was told the Aveling used to go to events under it's own steam in years gone by. Some of the museum staff told me that budgets have been slashed within the City Council and they don't have funds to even advertise the open day events externally anymore so the likelihood of the engines being brought back to a steam again seems remote at best. Maybe one day, they are both notable engines for their own reasons.

Completely impossible to get good photographs of them so surrounded by other items. I had to go beyond the yellow line painted on the floor to get the photographs that I did, which got me a telling off by the hi-vis jacketed museum employee.

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I wouldn't be surprised if Dave (Busy Bee) on here is on his way down to try and buy the Burrell "Busy Bee" now...:D

Good Luck Dave.:p


Cheers

Tez

Some nice lumps of coal in the roller bunker !. :D

:)

It's a shame they are standing in a museum collecting dust when someone could be having hours of pleasure with them on the road and rally field !.*cry

Cheers

Tez

Thanks David. We didn't go in the end. Too much to do before our first outing and not enough spare days! Shame about the hi-vis telling off but you got some nice pictures.

Busy Bee looks good

It was fine, we had a good chat about the old Birmingham rallies and how much they we missed them. He wasn't much of a steam man so I was telling him about how Mr Holl operated engines commercially long before Busy Bee was preserved.

The Commentator has sent me the following pic to post of 2992 during it's time in Newhall Street. The engine was surrounded by exhibits when it was in there and had fixed trunking attached to the chimney to allow it to be lightly steamed from time to time - consequently he thinks it is a very long time since it has been out on the road.

Interesting to compare it in this picture and the ones I took of it yesterday.

http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/tth/12/2992.jpg

There is a picture of 2992 being delivered to the museum in "A Hundred Years of Road Rollers". I seem to remember reading that Mr Hunt of The Leader/Griffin/Wait & See fame was involved somewhere along the line?

That Burrell winched the the museums Coranation Pacific into place in the original museum.