The going train, which is powered by a half-ton weight, is wound manually with a giant handle, while the chiming and striking chains, powered by 1.25-ton and ton weights respectively, are hauled up the tower using an electric motor.
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Inside Big Ben and how to visitYou can visit Big Ben by booking a 90-minute guided tour that takes visitors up 334 stairs to see the clock mechanism room, behind the four clock dials and the Belfry, where the famous bell is located. Tours can be booked by visiting the official UK Parliament website.
Changing ground conditions have affected the London clock tower, and it leans ever so slightly to the north-west, with an inclination of 0.26 degrees (that's just one-sixteenth the tilt of the Leaning Tower of Pisa).
A lift was also installed during this renovation. 10 May 2023: The clock dials all stopped at 12:55, and Big Ben did not chime at 13:00. The hands restarted, but the clock was five minutes slow until rectified at 13:47.
Big Ben miraculously survived World War IIDespite the precautions, Big Ben was not immune to the devastation of German bombs during the Blitz: on May 10, 1941, a German bombing raid inflicted damage on the Houses of Parliament and the surrounding area, including the clock tower itself.
1716: The bell from the clock tower is recast and later hung in the South West Tower of St Paul's Cathedral. If Big Ben is ever unable to strike, the bell in St Paul's is heard instead.