Below the engine house, Victoria and Alexander are fuelled by the water pumps and one remaining Lancashire boiler diligently fed by the next generation of steam engine enthusiasts under the watchful eye of the current. In its heyday, the boiler room housed five boilers used in rotation to allow for cooling and cleaning and consuming up to 3 tons of coal a day. For someone like me, born and raised in the coalfields there was nothing more fascinating and deeply satisfying than getting a glimpse of how my heritage in the East crossed paths with that of the Industrial West. It would have only taken a nod of approval and I would have happily donned a pair of overalls and joined the lads shovelling coal in the hopper.
Water Pump