Kew Bridge Steam Museum

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Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses a museum of water supply and a collection of water pumping steam engines, including the world's largest working Cornish beam engine. With a cylinder diameter of 90 inches, it was used to pump water to London. The collection also includes several other large Cornish beam engines, a triple expansion engine and several rotative engines. The museum is situated in London by Kew Bridge.

[edit] History

The Kew Bridge Pumping Station was originally opened in 1838 by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, following a decision to close an earlier pumping station at Chelsea due to poor water quality. In the years up to 1944 the site expanded, with the addition of more steam pumping engines as well as four Allen diesel pumps and four electic pumping sets. The steam engines were retired from service in 1944, although two were kept on standby up until 1958, when a demonstration run of the Harvey & Co. 100 inch engine marked the final time steam would operate at the site.

However, the Metropolitan Water Board decided not to scrap the resident steam pumping engines and set them aside to form the basis of a museum display at a later date. This action bore fruit in 1973 with the formation of the Kew Bridge Engines Trust.

Today the site remains as a memorial to the numerous steam pumping stations spread throughout London and the UK, with an ever increasing number of fully working steam pumping engines demonstrated every weekend to the public.

[edit] Railway

Cloister at Kew Bridge

The steam museum is home to London's only operating steam railway. The 2 ft (610 mm) gauge narrow gauge railway is run by the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Society and is the home base of Hunslet 0-4-0ST Cloister. The line runs for 400 yards around the Kew Bridge site and passenger trains are operated during the summer months.