Black Country Living Museum in the West Midlands
The Black Country Living Museum was created in 1976 to preserve and commemorate the history of the West Midlands. The landlocked county is now one of Great Britain's most urbanized areas with a population of over five million people. Located between the towns of Dudley and Tipton, the museum offers visitors the chance to experience a recreation of everyday life from the Victorian period up to the 1930's. Important buildings and landmarks were either rebuilt or exact replicas were created as part of the museum's exhibits. Over 300,000 people visit each year.
Reconstruction of Old Birmingham Road
The Old Birmingham Road site was an important center of activity and commerce in the West Midlands leading up to the Second World War. Once sections of existing shops and worker's housing built in the early 1920's were moved onto the site, museum staff used engine powered midland forklifts and boom lifts during the reconstruction process. The task required several forklifts Birmingham.
Painters, craftsmen and builders were raised to heights over 10 meters while standing in the safety of the lift's cage. This ability to reach any part of the structure helped the staff as they applied new paint around window frames, attached original or replica signage onto the front of the tobacconist and motorcycle shops and inspected and/or repaired individual bricks that made up each building's foundation. Boom lifts even allowed the staff to climb on top of the building's roof and take a break as they looked out over the museum's 26 acres of exhibits and attractions. To move the reconstruction materials about the museums property machines came from forklift Birmingham, forklift Coventry, and forklift hire wolverhampton.
Boom Lifts Assist in Restoration Process
While the Black Country Living Museum allows visitors to step back in time for a day, the staff use modern equipment to help maintain and transport the over 80,000 artifacts on display.
When someone enters either the Chapel, Gregory's General Store, or any of the restored buildings, they may not realize that the staff often operate electric boom lifts and forklift trucks birmingham inside and outside each of them. The painted mural above the chapel's altar is one example. Using electric booms, that don't emit any fumes that might harm the delicate objects inside the 175-year-old chapel, the staff is able to inspect and repair the mural on a weekly basis. The Birmingham forklifts provide a solution to the re-arrangement of the heavy wooded objects that have to be carefully transported such as restored pews.
Walking into Gregory's General Store, one will immediately notice the variety of foodstuffs and supplies running along and above the shop's walls. The store sold everything from eggs, milk, cigarettes and even haberdashery. To recreate the authentic look of how the store appeared back in the 1920's, museum staff needed an electric boom lift to help them install original ceiling lamps and place milk jugs and ceramic containers on top of the high shelves located on the far wall. Staff also employed the lifts to help them raise and insert a framed “price list” that told customers how much each item sold for and the specials of the day.
Looking at Sidebotham’s Steel Trap Works one might not realize that the metal working shop although restored, is in actuality smaller than the original shop. Visitors can come by and observe the craft of classic metalworking. The restored chain makers shop still has a tradesman forging iron chains regularly. Much of the Steel Trap Works machines, materials, and restored buildings required large forklift truck hire Birmingham to help reconstruct the shops to full authenticity. One of the most interesting historic machines on display here are the Oliver Hammers. The large Rube Goldberg-esque machines come in various sizes, but all work by having a treadle driven sledgehammer drive molten iron through a lead cast to create long metal bolts. Bolts were custom made for customers and ranged from construction bolts to railway bolts.
This attention to detail and preservation outside and inside each building ensures future guests will able to enjoy the Black Country Living Museum's many exhibits from the nation's past.
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