Sewards of Petersfield - Museum Review

A week away in Norfolk for us in April and we had to visit the Thursford Steam Collection. Having never been there before, we had heard lots of reports from friends and were looking forward to our trip.

As we arrived in the car park there was only a handful of cars, then reading the sign on the entrance gate we noticed it didn't open until midday. So at midday off we went, walking down towards the big buildings we notice a train which unfortunately was sheeted up which the children were very disappointed about, it also looked as though it hadn't been steamed for some time.

Entering the building where the engines and rides are kept we were impressed, there stood three showman's engines in a line and a set of gallopers and a wonderful Gondola switchback ride. Over the other side of the building was the stage where Robert Wolfe plays the Wurlitzer theatre organ and beyond that were more steam engines and a good display of stationary engines. Also around the walls of the building were many types of fairground organs.

As we walked around the organs played well known tunes which gave a good atmosphere. Then Robert Wolfe sat at the Wurlitzer and gave us a fantastic display of how one of these wonderful instruments should be played. We all sat watching him. The children were mesmerised.

The chance came to have a go on the two rides. Having ridden on gallopers many times over the years we didn't feel the need to have a go on them, but the impressive gondola ride was a different matter and we couldn't wait. It was great, what a site it must have been all thoughs years ago at a town or village fair.

To sum up our visit, it was a shame that none of the engines have seen a fire in there fire boxes for years, it is disappointing as we think all steam engines should really be seen in steam. It would be nice to see some of the other engines that are parked up waiting for restoration in the yard across the road from the museum. There is plenty of room for more inside the building and surrounding gardens. You only get to see a handful of what is a very large collection. To end on a high note, the atmosphere created by the music of the fairground organs and the Wurlitzer is fabulous.

Bressingham steam museum is located on the A1066 Diss to Thetford road two and a half miles west of Diss, it is well signposted and can be easily found next to a large garden centre. Admission to the museum is through the garden centre. On entering, our first impressions were good with a narrow gauge railway loco pulling rides around the site and gardens with a fine set of gallopers in the distance but as we wanted to see the engine collection we decided to save these treats for later. After passing through a rather shabby gift shop, we entered the main hall containing the engines and were rather disappointed to discover a collection of rather neglected exhibits including a pair of Fowler ploughing engines, several rollers, traction engines, a Burrell road loco and a Burrell showmans both of which we were to sold and were in need of some TLC. The gallery finishes with a 'Dads Army' set which while interesting was a bit 'thin'. To our dismay, outside, on a patch of gravel was an old and rather interesting Fowler Agricultural engine which was in almost derelict condition having evidently been left uncovered for quite a while, not the sort of thing one expects from a museum of repute.

Next we toured the standard gauge locomotive sheds where there were some nicely cared for engines from the national collection, these were by far the best kept things in the museum, it would seem that road engines are the poor relation at Bressingham.

On the plus side, we enjoyed riding on both the 'nursery railway', a narrow gauge industrial type line and the 'waveney valley railway', a 15' line, both were quite long and offered fine views of the gardens which must be spectacular in the summer, the locos and stock were well looked after and the staff both friendly and helpful.

Bressingham has been in existence for well over 30 years and in the past has had a reputation for being worth a visit, however we were rather disappointed with the overall experience and thought that it rather suggested a museum in decline, perhaps offering some of its assets for sale will generate some revenue to revamp this tired but worthy attraction.

While on a short steam based holiday in Norfolk in April we visited the Strumpshaw Steam Museum and as none of us had been there before we were looking forward to the experience. The museum was fairly easy to locate, signposts leading us from the Norwich to Great Yarmouth road straight to the door. On our arrival we began to wonder what we had let ourselves in for as we could see no sign of a museum and although the grounds were extensive, the car park was tiny. We followed the signs to the entrance and paid our admission fees, what lay in store?

We need not have worried as what met our eyes was quite unexpected, an cave of steam engines!

The museum is housed in a large barn which is split on two levels. On entering we were presented with a well kept Burrell traction engine and several Marshalls, these, we were able to compare with Victoria to see how Marshalls had improved (or not) their design. Around every corner there were more engines, mostly well kept with evidence of recent steamings, in fact several were being prepared for their annual boiler test which we found encouraging for a museum as many just keep their engines as static exhibits.

Apart from the traction engines there were lots of other interesting items including a cinema organ on which period tunes were played shaking the cobwebs from the visitors ears!

Outside we rode on a narrow gauge railway on a train pulled by a small diesel loco which toured the grounds, on this trip we saw that building work was underway to extend the museum, more power to their elbow!

To sum up, Strumpshaw Hall Steam Museum is well worth a visit, don't be put off by first impressions, it houses a wonderful collection run by helpful and friendly people, look out for their annual steam rally, the setting alone will be reason enough to go.

As we visit many of the Steam related museums around the country we thought it would be good to give people a feel of what we thought of the venues.

So our museum review blog will be updated every time we visit a museum. Please make sure you check back regularly or even better use the RSS news feed and a piece of RSS software to be informed automatically when we add a review to this blog.