Category: Museums

Trains are great, however those trains would not move anywhere if it were not for the signalling which controls them. Signalling is vital and has been constantly developing since the inception of the railways. When we think of heritage railways, many of us will think of mechanical semaphore signalling which was typical for the steam […]

4049 Pendennis Castle comes from the 4-6-0 Castle class family which were once of the most celebrated locomotives of the Great Western Railway and over 171 Castles were built from 1923 – 1950. Pendennis Castle has a special claim to fame as she outperformed the mighty Flying Scotsman in 1925 running 16 coach trains on […]

Based at the historic Kew Bridge Waterworks, the London Museum of Water & Steam tells the story of London’s water supply from the Roman era right up to the modern day. This is a working museum and there are some very interesting examples of steam pumping engines; from a smaller sized triple expansion engine right […]

Romsey signal box dates back to 1865, where it was originally located at the junction of the Southampton and Eastleigh lines. The signal box was in use for well over 100 years, but became redundant in 1982 thanks to the advances in modern signalling. The signal box was acquired by the Romsey and District Buildings […]

I know, a wildlife haven doesn’t exactly scream railways or museum, so what is this all about? The site where Railworld currently sits was originally intended to be the home of the Museum of World Railways to compliment the National Railway Museum in York. Due to funding issues, the site had to change direction and […]

Fawley Hill is unique and this was such a brilliant day out. This is a private estate owed by Lady Judy and the late Sir William McAlpine. The site has it’s own standard gauge railway and is open to the public by invitation only on specific running days in the year. Sir William was a […]

There were two lines which used to serve Coleford, both of which had their own stations. The Coleford Railway, whose main sponser was the GWR (line closed in 1917) and the Severn and Wye Railway (Coleford Branch) closed in 1916. Although nothing remains of the former two stations, the museum sits on the site of […]

The Crewe HC is somewhere i’ve been longing to go to for a considerable amount of time. Crewe works itself continues to produce locos today however what remains of the works is a fraction of the size of the original footprint. The Heritage Centre was established in 1987 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the […]

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 […]

While in the region of the Northampton and Lamport railway, just a stones throw away from it is the Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust. This place it tiny, with a small museum, loco shed and small demonstration line. It does however have the odd few gems at the time of my visit. For example, this place […]