The Science and Industry Museum’s iconic Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery has reopened today, welcoming visitors back inside for the first time since 2019.
Over a hundred students from Droylsden-based Fairfield High School for Girls became some of the first through the door on Friday morning (17 October 2025), and joined hundreds more visitors to immerse themselves in the sights, smells and sounds of the engine-driven ideas and industry that started in Manchester and went on to change the world.
Power Hall offers the chance to discover locomotives and working steam engines, some of which are running for the first time in almost a decade, uncover inspiring stories of the people whose skills and ideas have powered our lives from the Industrial Revolution to now, and get hands-on with brand new interactives and practice problem-solving skills.
Long-standing favorite objects have been reexamined through new perspectives and STEM skills are on display in action as the museum’s expert team of technicians work to care for the engines.
Anyone visiting this weekend (Saturday 18 – Sunday 19) will experience a party atmosphere as the museum marks the reopening with energetic performances from musical collective, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, who will be performing live at 11.00, 12.30, 14.00 on both days.
Power Hall is the latest building to reopen as part of amulti-million-pound regeneration project currently taking place across the Science and Industry Museum to conserve its historic buildings and reveal new spaces for all visitors to enjoy, play and learn in.
Originally built as a shipping shed for the world’s first inter-city steam powered passenger railway, Power Hall is a globally important, Grade II listed building. It was the building that the museum first opened back in September 1983, when it became home to one of the UK’s largest collections of historic working engines.
Power Hall temporarily closed in 2019 to allow for urgent repair works, a pioneering de-carbonisation project to reduce the building’s carbon emissions and a reimagining of its displays, interpretation and visitor experience. Visitors can now come and explore a train load of working machinery, hands-on interactives and brand-new stories to discover.
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