Kew Bridge Steam Museum

Not entirely coincidentally, there was a Meccano exhibition taking place in the museum when I went, which meant the Museum was full of enthusiastic beardies and over-excited children. But the smell of grease, the wafting steam and the Freudian nightmare of giant pistons pumping themselves into a frenzy add up to a pleasant afternoon diversion. What with this, Bekonscot Model Village and the Ruislip Lido Railway I think my inexplicable appetite for model engineering may finally have been sated. But I’d quite like to go back some time and see the massive Cornish engines working.

The Kew Bridge Steam Museum is a former water pumping station. It used to pump water out of the Thames into the London water distribution network using steam powered pumps.

Today the building is a museum that has a permanent exhibition on the London water distribution network. But the main attractions are the various steam engines housed in the museum. The centre pieces are the original engines of the water pumps. This is amazing machinery that will delight children of all ages and everybody else who still has an inner child inside.

All the steam engines in the museum are in pristine working condition but they are only under steam at the week-end so if you want to see them work, this is when you should visit.