Power of Steam: Places to Visit

‘The Power of Steam’, is not only the story of heroic individuals, whether famous or unknown. The stationary steam engine and the locomotive transformed landscapes, employment and lives, but steam’s penetration into the economy at first was slow and not beneficial to everyone. Steam, nevertheless, contributed to global history: through processes as varied as the impact of Argentinian railways in transforming the pampas into beef-producing estates and the effect of Indian cotton factories, whose mass-produced fabrics contributed, paradoxically to the decline of the British textile industry. It would be misleading to see the West Midlands as the only source of this revolution in technology. The region was, nevertheless, home to an Industrial Enlightenment of innovations and
their application, which had major economic, social and cultural consequences. We explore inventors, inventions and the impact of the power of steam highlighted in the following places to visit:

• Leawood Pump-House and Middleton Top Engine House
• Mill Meece Pumping Station
• Etruria Industrial Museum
• The National Brewery Centre
• Cobb's Engine House
• Thinktank Birmingham
• Black Country Living Museum
• Severn Valley Railway (SVR)
• Coleham Pumping Station
• Hereford Waterworks Museum

To find out more please download the pdf below.

KEYWORDS: Places to Visit, Steam Engine, Steam, James Watt, Museums