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Moving the Titanic model by crane

Some of our ship models are giants more than 6 metres long and cannot fit into the goods lift at the Maritime Museum. An example is the Titanic model, which used to be on display on the third floor of Merseyside Maritime Museum, before it was moved to its current position in the Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress gallery |on the first floor.

Models this large have to be lifted by crane, which is a complex job. The model is first built into a wooden crate so all its fragile detail is protected from the lifting straps. Outside the building we build high scaffolding towers, so the hook of the crane can lift the model straight up without it ever getting jammed between the buildings.

Once this is ready a window is temporarily removed and the model is taken out of the building and lifted to the ground. While it is 'parked' there, the scaffold platform is either raised or lowered to the height of the floor that the model is being moved to.

Inside the building we sometimes need to demolish doors and walls because the model is too high for the door or too long to go around corners.

We always move these models very early in the morning and the doors and walls are back in place by the time our first visitors of the day come in.

Click on the thumbnails to see the move of the Titanic model from one floor to another.