A multi-million pound restoration programme is nearing completion at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum globally significant industrial heritage site to carry out crucial restoration work and reveal new spaces and perspectives for all visitors to enjoy, play and learn in. One of these improvements is repair work on the Science and Industry Museum’s iconic 1830 Viaduct and gantry that were at the heart of industrial Manchester.
The Science and Industry Museum sits on the site of the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station at the heart of the world’s first industrial city. Essential repair work is nearly done, restoring its iconic 1830 Viaduct and the gantry connected to the Power Hall, a piece of once cutting-edge technology in Manchester that shows how the historic station was transformed into a busy goods depot − both structures are long-standing symbols of the city’s industrial past.
The 1830 Viaduct is part of the site’s original railway station, which opened in September 1830. Liverpool Road Station was the Manchester terminus of the world’s first inter-urban railway, which connected industrial Manchester with Liverpool’s docks. The railway’s engineer, George Stephenson, designed the Viaduct to solve the problem of Liverpool Road’s sloping land, creating a flat upper level to support the railway tracks.
Mostly hidden by the station’s buildings, the Viaduct runs from the middle of the Power Hall out towards Water Street. Together with the 1830 Station, it makes up the most complete surviving early railway station complex in the world and serves as a tangible reminder of Manchester’s key role in the Industrial Revolution.
The 1830 Viaduct was in need of essential repairs to reverse historic water ingress and protect it from predicted increase in rainfall over the coming years. Repairs include:
- The temporary removal of track and ballast to allow the museum to undertake secondary surveys of the water damage and repair work needed;
- Drainage of water currently trapped across the Viaduct;
- Application of new waterproofing solution to future-proof the Viaduct for generations to come;
- Reinstallation of track to reflect the site’s original history as a working railway station.
The gantry was built during the 1880s. It supported travelling cranes that moved heavy goods from one wagon to another. This was cutting-edge technology at the time and was designed to help workers handle the loads coming on and off the railway. At 72m long and nearly 8m high, it’s a monumental structure on site, showcasing the ingenuity and innovation that characterised the industrial era.
It was constructed after passenger services to Liverpool Road Station had stopped and marks the transformation of the site into a hub of goods handling as trade and industry in Manchester boomed. Although not statutorily listed in its own right, the gantry lies within the curtilage of the Grade II listed Power Hall, due to reopen in summer 2025, and contributes to the museum’s historic setting.
Essential repair works have included shot blasting the 72m long and 8m high metal structure to remove historic weather damage before carefully removing each layer of corrosion and rust, a painstaking process which took four months to complete under the care of specialist teams.
Sarah Baines, Curator of Engineering at the Science and Industry Museum said: “Working with Buttress Architects paint samples of the gantry were analysed to determine the colour and type of paint originally used. Samples were taken for cross-sectional analysis which allowed us to look back though the layers of paint that had built up on the gantry through time.
“There were at least eight layers of paint, from the original red-brown lead oil paint to the modern dark grey oil paint. We could also see several layers of sooty deposits between the earlier 19th century layers, indicating the high levels of air pollution present in industrial Manchester. The earliest paint layers identified on the gantry all consist of dark red-brown ochre which we’ve matched as closely as possible to repaint the gantry back to its original colour.”
Over the coming weeks, visitors at the Science and Industry Museum will be able to see glimpses of the essential repairs that have taken place to the towering outdoor gantry crane outside of Power Hall.
The Science and Industry Museum celebrates ideas that change the world, from the Industrial Revolution to today and beyond. It’s uniquely placed to tell this story – on the site of the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway, in the heart of the world’s first industrial city.
The Science and Industry Museum is still open as usual, with the Power Hall closure continuing until 2025. You can see what’s on here.
📍 The Science and Industry Museum is located at Liverpool Rd, Manchester M3 4JP.