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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 engine
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
s. The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage
European Route of Industrial Heritage

The European Route of Industrial Heritage is a network of the most important Industrial Heritage sites in Europe. The aim of the project is to create interest for the common European Heritage of the Industrialization and its remains....
. It is situated in Brentford
Brentford

Brentford is a suburb of the London Borough of Hounslow at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent in West London, situated 8 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
 by Kew Bridge
Kew Bridge

Kew Bridge is a bridge in London over the River Thames. The present bridge was designed by John Wolfe-Barry and opened in 1903. The bridge was given...
 on the River Thames
River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
 in west London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
.

Kew Bridge Pumping Station was originally opened in 1838 by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company
Grand Junction Waterworks Company

The Grand Junction Waterworks Company was a utility company water supply to parts of West London London in England. The company was formed as an off-shoot of the Grand Junction Canal Company in 1811 and became part of the publicly-owned Metropolitan Water Board in 1903....
, following a decision to close an earlier pumping station
Pumping station

Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems that many people take for granted, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites....
 at Chelsea
Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of south-west London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road power station and Chelsea Harbour....
 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 electric pumping sets.






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Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses a museum of water supply and a collection of water pumping steam engine
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
s. The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage
European Route of Industrial Heritage

The European Route of Industrial Heritage is a network of the most important Industrial Heritage sites in Europe. The aim of the project is to create interest for the common European Heritage of the Industrialization and its remains....
. It is situated in Brentford
Brentford

Brentford is a suburb of the London Borough of Hounslow at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent in West London, situated 8 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
 by Kew Bridge
Kew Bridge

Kew Bridge is a bridge in London over the River Thames. The present bridge was designed by John Wolfe-Barry and opened in 1903. The bridge was given...
 on the River Thames
River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
 in west London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
.

History

The Kew Bridge Pumping Station was originally opened in 1838 by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company
Grand Junction Waterworks Company

The Grand Junction Waterworks Company was a utility company water supply to parts of West London London in England. The company was formed as an off-shoot of the Grand Junction Canal Company in 1811 and became part of the publicly-owned Metropolitan Water Board in 1903....
, following a decision to close an earlier pumping station
Pumping station

Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems that many people take for granted, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites....
 at Chelsea
Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of south-west London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road power station and Chelsea Harbour....
 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 electric 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.

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 an internationally-recognised museum of steam pumping engines as a reminder of the many pumping stations spread throughout London and the UK. In 1999, the United Kingdom government Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for English culture and Sport in England in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, for example broadcasting....
 described Kew Bridge as "the most important historic site of the water supply industry in Britain".

Engines

The museum houses the world's largest collection of Cornish beam engines
Cornish engine

A Cornish engine is a type of steam engine developed in Cornwall, United Kingdom, for pumping water from a tin Mining. It is a form of beam engine that uses steam at a higher pressure than the earlier engines designed by James Watt ....
, including the largest working beam engine, which has a cylinder diameter of 90 inches and was used to pump water to London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 for 98 years. There are also several other large working Cornish beam engine
Beam engine

A beam engine is a design of engine based on the principles of a first-class lever. A force is applied to one end of a beam, which is pivoted in the middle, and the lever action transfers the force to create work at the other end of the beam....
s, a triple-expansion engine
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
 and several rotative steam engine
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
s.

The museum is currently undertaking the restoration of its Bull Engine, which is one of only four known examples in the world, and the only engine in its original location. The Bull engine was built in 1856 and first steamed in restoration in 2006.

One of the museum's Allen Diesel engines is also on display and operated each weekend.

Railway


The steam museum is home to London's only operating steam railway. The gauge narrow gauge railway is run by the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Trust and is the home base of Hunslet
Hunslet Engine Company

The Hunslet Engine Company is a United Kingdom locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager....
 0-4-0ST Cloister. The line runs for 400 yards around the Kew Bridge site and passenger trains are operated on Sundays during the summer months and on other special days.

The railway was inspired by similar facilities provided at major waterworks in the United Kingdom, notably the Metropolitan Water Board Railway
Metropolitan Water Board Railway

The Metropolitan Water Board Railway was a narrow gauge railway industrial railway built to serve the Metropolitan Water Board pumping station at Kempton Park Steam Engines near London....
 between Hampton
Hampton, London

Hampton is a suburban area, centred on an old village on the north bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in England....
 and the Kempton Park
Kempton Park Steam Engines

The Kempton Park Steam Engines are two large triple-expansion engine, dating from 1926-1929, at the Kempton Park, Surrey waterworks, Middlesex, London....
 waterworks.

Exhibitions

Special exhibitions take place on a number of weekends each year (see Official Website for details).

See also

  • Pumping station
    Pumping station

    Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems that many people take for granted, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites....
  • Kempton Park Steam Engines
    Kempton Park Steam Engines

    The Kempton Park Steam Engines are two large triple-expansion engine, dating from 1926-1929, at the Kempton Park, Surrey waterworks, Middlesex, London....
  • Metropolitan Water Board Railway
    Metropolitan Water Board Railway

    The Metropolitan Water Board Railway was a narrow gauge railway industrial railway built to serve the Metropolitan Water Board pumping station at Kempton Park Steam Engines near London....


External links