Offbeat Museums: Kew Bridge Steam Musem
You might think a museum of waterworks sounds rather dull. But Victorian London excelled in the creation of excellent waterworks - Bazalgette’s huge sewers, fine pumping stations and public fountains - and it’s a heritage that deserves celebration, and gets it at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.
The museum is set in a superb Victorian pumping station, which blends functionality with elegance. The fine Italian renaissance style standpipe tower is a local landmark, its restraining arches and cornices clearly asserting its architectural pretensions.
Still, although I’m a bit of a nerd, I’ve never been a model railway fan, and I find the attractions of a lot of inert engines pall rather quickly. That’s why, unless you’re really into mechanics, I’d recommend you visit on one of the Giants of Steam weekends, when you can see the engines at work.
It’s not just about seeing them working - all your senses are involved; the smell of the coals, the noise of the pistons, the heat of flame and steam.
The museum also houses London’s only steam railway, which you can take a ride on. Railways like this one brought coal to the pumping stations to feed the engines, hungry monsters that devoured fuel in huge quantities.
There are Giants of Steam weekends on June 28/29, July 26/27, and September 27/28 - unfortunately there’s no steam day in August.
Where: Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Brentford, London TW8 0EN (Kew Gardens Tube)
When: Tues-Sun, 11-4
How much: £8.50 (£7.50 OAPs and students), under-16s free when accompanied by a paying adult: Free if you have a London Pass
Photo Credit - Les Chatfield on Flickr
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POSTED IN: Attractions, Just a Little Bit Weird - Fun & Quirky Places, Museums
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