Steamy start to New Year

The Walker steam engine from the Fern Mill, Shaw, will be steaming again this weekend. It was used to provide water pressure for the sprinkler system, and the bulbous tank is an accumulator used to smooth out pressure

A nostalgic return to the magnificent mill engines which once powered Oldham’s cotton spinning industry is on offer this weekend.

The Northern Mill Engine Society, Bolton, which has preserved many of the machines and keeps them working today, is holding a New Year steaming weekend.

And three machines from former Oldham mills will be on show, from the Fern Mill, Shaw, the Diamond Rope Works in Royton, and Hawthorn Mill in Chadderton.

The society runs the Bolton Steam Museum in Mornington Road and for the first time is holding a free New Year Winter Warm Up on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4pm each day.

The museum has the largest collection of working textile mill steam engines in the country, and the society has rescued and restored 25 engines which once powered Lancashire’s cotton mills.

Among the engines being powered up is the Walker steam fire pump which came from the Fern Mill, in Siddal Street, Shaw.

Built in 1884, the mill was demolished in 1983, but the steam fire pump was rescued.

The society’s education officer, David Lewis, said: “The pump was needed for the mill’s sprinkler system.”

The Diamond Rope Works engine, nicknamed Lily, has been fully restored.

The company manufactured a wide range of ropes and twines using a trademark of two interlocking diamonds.

The mill was badly damaged by fire in 1973 and the engine never ran again until the society acquired it in 1995.

The machine from the 1890 Hawthorn Mill in Victoria Street, Chadderton, which was demolished in 1970, was a barring engine.

It was used to move the larger main engine’s flywheel for starting or maintenance.




Bolton Steam Museum is off Chorley Old Road, Bolton, BL1 4EU, at the back of Morrison’s supermarket. Parking is free. The website is www.nmes. org or call 01204 846490.