Congratulations! to Kew Bridge Steam Museum on winning the Classic Award at the Museums and Heritage Awards Show 2006.......... read more here...

Kew Bridge Steam Museum, formerly the Kew Bridge Pumping Station, opened in 1975 and now houses one of the largest collections of working steam pumping engines in the world.

The museum's collection of steam engines is impressive. WIth the large beam engines housed in their original buildings, the Harvey Engines were once responsible for pumping up to 70% of London's water.

In the main gallery, four working engines are on display; the Easton and Amos engine, Hathorn Davey engine, Dancer's End engine and the Waddon engine.

Opportunity: The main gallery was lacking interpretation. The engines are great fun to look at but there wasn't very much information about them. The space is also noisy when the engines are running. During the evenings, the space is hired out for functions.

Solution: A portable indoor Audiopost was designed for the space. The Audiopost has a handset that enables visitors to listen to information while the engines are running. The Audiopost is portable to allow for the functions in the evening and any change to the exhibiton space. Like all our products it is tough and has a stainless steel faceplate with laser engraved graphics and text.

Artwork: The original artwork for each engine ranged from photocopies of technical drawings, technical sketches and in the case of the Hathorn Davey engine, a photograph on a postcard. A range of techniques was employed to create the computer files for three of the engravings but as no useable artwork was available for the Hathorn Davey, this engine was redrawn.

Audio: The script used for the recordings was prepared by Museum Director, Lesley Bossine. The audio files were recorded on-site and were voiced by one of the museum's volunteers.