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Beautiful grounds, a handsome building, and some fantastic engineering-related exhibits – the Museum of Power (Langford), hidden away down the rural lanes of deepest Essex, is a surprising and rewarding delight. Housed in a former water pumping station, the museum contains a superb collection of steam pumps and engines that are diverse in nature and have been restored to handsome condition.
The jewel in the crown is undoubtedly the gargantuan Marshall ‘inverted vertical’ triple-expansion steam pump that dominates the main exhibition space (right). Built and installed by the Lilleshall Company of Oakengates, Shropshire, it was one of three identical engine and pump sets installed in the building to supply Southend-on-Sea with treated drinking water.
Two of the three engines were always running while the third was in maintenance or repair, giving a combined pumping rate of about 8 million gallons (36 million litres) of water a day, depending on demand. Barring accident or breakdown, each engine ran for about eight months before being stopped for inspection.
Steam for the engines was supplied by three Babcock and Wilcox water tube boilers. These were coal-fired and fitted with chain grates, fed by a conveyor system from the outside of the building.
Marshall is a particularly fine example of its kind. It has been restored to such good condition, after 50 years of non-operation, that it is regularly ‘in steam’, thrilling visitors with its immense power. Such is its majesty that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers granted it an Engineering Heritage Award, and rightly so.
But the Museum of Power is far from being a one-trick pony. It offers plenty of other things to see, most notably a recreation of a belt-driven workshop of a kind that was in common use in 1900. The exhibit uses machines and related equipment from two businesses that once traded from two workshop premises in north London. The exhibits had remained unused since the early 1970s before being restored by museum volunteers.
Other engines and pumps are dotted around the site. A type VK heavy oil engine, ordered by the Metropolitan Water Board from Paxman of Colchester in 1928, sits proudly in one corner. The VK is a four-stroke engine with a 12-inch cylinder bore and 17-inch stroke, which was offered in versions from one to six cylinders. After the water board took it out of service, the engine was dismantled. Eventually its components – many of them corroded – were brought to the museum and it was restored.
Nearby is a Ricardo variable compression petrol/diesel engine that was widely used in research and development to measure the effects of different lubricating oils, fuels and components. And outside is an inverted twin-cylinder steam engine, built in 1908 by Lancashire firm Ashworth & Parker, and one of two that drove machinery at the Thames Board Mill in London. The engine was donated by the Museum of London, which saved it when the Docklands factory it was installed in was demolished.
There are also aircraft and train engines, oil heaters, clocks, lanterns and irons, to satisfy the mechanically minded.
In addition, the museum has much more to offer. It is set in seven acres (2.8ha) of grounds, through which runs the River Blackwater, and there is a miniature railway where on certain days trains chug through wooded glades. Other attractions in the grounds include a model village. On certain Sundays, a vintage clothes and antiques fair takes place in the museum.
It all adds up to make the Museum of Power the perfect day out for all the family.
1. Power and beauty: The Marshall ‘inverted vertical’ triple-expansion steam pump built by Lilleshall.
2. Made in Essex: A collection of machine tools set up as a 1900-style belt-driven workshop.
3. Outdoor adventures: The museum is housed in seven acres of well-kept grounds.
4. Food for thought: Enjoy lunch or a cream tea in the museum’s cafe, the Steam Pump Tearoom.
5. Hitch a ride: Trains on the miniature railway steam along a quarter-of-a-mile section of track.
For more details, see the website: www.museumofpower.org.uk