Having previously lived near Kempton for over 20 years of my life, it’s crazy I didn’t think to visit this place sooner. The museum preserves the historic steam water pumping engines which was a key piece of infrastructure to provide clean water to large parts of London for over 100 years. The museum is home to two triple expansion engines, one of which has been returned to steam (Sir William Prescott) and is fired up usually one weekend per month. The other engine (Lady Bessie Prescott) is used to give guided tours which I can’t recommend enough.
Around the museum are many historical architecture drawings, most of which you need a degree in engineering to probably understand but fascinating to look at.
As well as the two triple expansion engines, the museum also has two steam turbine pump sets. These were installed in 1933 and occupy the same floor space as one of the triple expansion engines however they are a fraction of the height. The below image shows the interior of one of those turbines. Below this you can see both turbines side by side in the hall.
