Science Museum: Old Steam

This morning I took the opportunity to visit the Science Museum in Kensington. After breakfast I took the Tube over to South Kensington station, arrived much earlier than I expected, and hung out at Imperial College for a little while until the museum opened. I felt sorry for the various students that had exams today ...

The collection of the Science Museum is incredibly diverse. Following my interests, I started off looking for steam machines, stationary and mobile.

They have several replica and original steam machines, including the remains the first Trevithick's steam locomotive. The under carriage of this locomotive is missing. Just imagine it were to sit on wheels.

"Puffing Billy", built in 1813, is one of the first steam locomotives. I took some time to walk around this engine and figure out how it worked. It's in reasonably well restored state, too.

Puffing Billy is a geared locomotive, which surprised me at first.