Welcome to the home of the following UK websites

Old Engine House

Preservation of unique Riches and Watts steam engines and some history of their makers

Phoenix Publications

Republishing rare steam related books on CDROM

Norfolk's premier live stationary steam museum

(click on one of the highlighted links to enter, or read on)

This website is unashamedly devoted to the stationary steam engine , which, powering the industries that made Britain Great, were often hidden from view and as a result have not had same the public exposure or developed the same nostalgic following which rail, road, agricultural or even marine steam has achieved. Often extremely large, they are not easy to relocate or house and so most have been the victims of 're cycling', the sledge hammer and Gas Axe (oxy acetylene cutting torch) have taken their toll, however there are a hardcore of somewhat eccentric individuals, societies and even a few 'official' museums who have managed to save and keep alive some of these dinosaurs of the steam age, this site is dedicated to them and to the men who originally designed, built, operated and maintained these engines. Many other countries produced similar engines, I will leave it to the enthusiasts in those countries to pick up the gauntlet and describe the output of their Engineers and the survivors which are yet to be found in odd corners.

Click on the highlighted words to see these associated pages

Museums or other British sites with stationary steam engines worth looking at

Museums in East Anglia where stationary steam engines may be seen

A guide to some different types of stationary steam engines

Technical stuff on stationary steam engines

Links to Favourite, Steamy or otherwise Interesting sites

The Dodman - a long term project to produce a steam powered 'fun' vehicle to terrorise the neighbours and take to rallies or fund raisers.

Steam Powered Flight

Damp Eye Corner - some engines which are no more

Engraving of the month (probably a big file) - New Engraving November 2001

Bibliography or books where you can learn more about stationary steam engines

Model Engineer magazine - some I want, some I have spare

Other Interests (yes there are some) - Mediaeval stained glass, bells and other stuff.

The 3 axis CNC engraver / mill / router made from scrap

This site is still under construction - apologies if any part is not on line, down for re-work or incomplete. If you are interested in stationary steam engines, have any feedback, url's for other on line stationary steam related sites, information, constructive comments or if you would be kind enough to report a lost link or picture not showing, by mailing it to :- website@phoenixbooks.org would be very much appreciated.

Over the years, a number of generous spirited people in the UK, Europe Australia and New Zealand have been instrumental in providing information, materials, access to sites, engines or archive material, permissions to view or photograph and demonstrations in steam or opportunities to drive engines in their care. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank each and every one of you.

I have endeavoured to ensure that others intellectual property rights have not been infringed in constructing this site, should you feel that any material here infringes your IPR's, please mail me with corroboration and I will either remove or correctly attribute the offending material.

Any opinions expressed within the site are mine unless specifically attributed elsewhere, as are the IPR's and Copyright of text and images unless public domain or otherwise attributed. It is hoped that you will enjoy this site, you are welcome to download or print out any of its content for your own personal interest but you may not use any of the content for any commercial purposes or for re publication in any format whatsoever.

Last updated 2nd September 2002