Industrial Heritage Archives - Mechtraveller https://mechtraveller.com/category/structures/industrial-heritage/ Mechanically-minded travel Wed, 03 Dec 2025 17:41:18 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The Chimney Lift at Battersea Power Station https://mechtraveller.com/2025/12/the-chimney-lift-at-battersea-power-station/ https://mechtraveller.com/2025/12/the-chimney-lift-at-battersea-power-station/#respond Wed, 03 Dec 2025 17:40:48 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=12510 The Chimney Lift at London’s Battersea Power Station (BPS) has reopened with a new interactive experience area designed to engage and inform visitors about the huge and historic former electricity generating plant. What is the Chimney Lift? It’s a glass enclosed lift that rises up through one of the power station’s four iconic chimneys and […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2025/12/the-chimney-lift-at-battersea-power-station/feed/ 0 London Canal Museum https://mechtraveller.com/2025/05/london-canal-museum/ https://mechtraveller.com/2025/05/london-canal-museum/#respond Wed, 28 May 2025 17:17:15 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=11726 The London Canal Museum (LCM) is housed in an historic canal warehouse, just north of King’s Cross. It has displays and artefacts on two floors, telling the story of canals, and London’s canals in particular, from their construction, the goods and industries that relied on them for transport, the lock keepers, boatmen and their families […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2025/05/london-canal-museum/feed/ 0 Industrial Heritage on the Union Canal, and how to explore it https://mechtraveller.com/2024/12/industrial-heritage-on-the-union-canal-and-how-to-explore-it/ https://mechtraveller.com/2024/12/industrial-heritage-on-the-union-canal-and-how-to-explore-it/#respond Sat, 07 Dec 2024 14:24:31 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=11120 The truth is, all of Britain’s canals are ‘industrial heritage’ in their own right, but they all have some unique pieces of engineering & architecture that stand out. The Union Canal, running between Falkirk and Edinburgh, is no exception. I took a narrowboat on a short trip along half of it to see its key […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2024/12/industrial-heritage-on-the-union-canal-and-how-to-explore-it/feed/ 0 The Fontinettes Boat Lift, Arques, Pas-de-Calais https://mechtraveller.com/2024/07/the-fontinettes-boat-lift-arques-pas-de-calais/ https://mechtraveller.com/2024/07/the-fontinettes-boat-lift-arques-pas-de-calais/#respond Mon, 01 Jul 2024 10:44:19 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=10291 The Fontinettes Boat Lift (Ascenseur à bateaux des Fontinettes) in Arques, Pas-de-Calais. is a magnificent piece of 19th century engineering and architecture. It was built in the late 19th century at Fontinettes* to replace a set of five locks on the Neuffossé canal which linked/s the canalised rivers Lys and Aa**. This was an important […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2024/07/the-fontinettes-boat-lift-arques-pas-de-calais/feed/ 0 Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris https://mechtraveller.com/2024/05/musee-des-arts-et-metiers-paris/ https://mechtraveller.com/2024/05/musee-des-arts-et-metiers-paris/#respond Tue, 21 May 2024 18:27:08 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=10070 The Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Paris is almost the French equivalent of the Science Museum in London, and it is absolutely packed with the most fascinating historic, scientific, mechanical, experimental and industrial exhibits. Be prepared to allocate plenty of time for your visit! The museum, created in 1794 […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2024/05/musee-des-arts-et-metiers-paris/feed/ 0 Écomusée – Industrial Heritage Museum of Saint-Nazaire https://mechtraveller.com/2022/10/ecomusee-industrial-heritage-museum-of-saint-nazaire/ https://mechtraveller.com/2022/10/ecomusee-industrial-heritage-museum-of-saint-nazaire/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:12:03 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=8178 The Écomusée in the old port area of Saint-Nazaire focuses on the port’s historic, industrial and maritime heritage. Who knew!? Most Anglophones, me included, think the “Éco Museum” is something to do with the environment, and probably linked to the EOL-Wind Turbine experience nearby. I wouldn’t have gone there if we hadn’t been walking literally […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2022/10/ecomusee-industrial-heritage-museum-of-saint-nazaire/feed/ 1 The Dutch Mining Museum is now housed in a former department store https://mechtraveller.com/2022/07/the-dutch-mining-museum-is-now-housed-in-a-former-department-store/ https://mechtraveller.com/2022/07/the-dutch-mining-museum-is-now-housed-in-a-former-department-store/#respond Thu, 28 Jul 2022 13:11:04 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=7713 The Dutch Mining Museum (Nederlands Mijnmuseum) re-opened in May this year (2022) in the old Kneepkens department store in Heerlen, south Netherlands. Heerlen is in that panhandle that extends south to Maastricht along the Meuse between Belgium and Germany, and includes the Limburg region, famous for its coal industry in all three countries. The coal […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2022/07/the-dutch-mining-museum-is-now-housed-in-a-former-department-store/feed/ 0 Clock Museum in Saint-Nicolas d’Aliermont, Normandy https://mechtraveller.com/2022/06/clock-museum-in-saint-nicolas-daliermont-normandy/ https://mechtraveller.com/2022/06/clock-museum-in-saint-nicolas-daliermont-normandy/#respond Sat, 04 Jun 2022 07:52:48 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=7536 The clock museum, or ‘Musée de l’Horlogerie’, in Saint-Nicolas-d’Aliermont presents a really interesting social and industrial account of the rise and partial decline of a town focused on a single technology. Back in the 1950/60s, Saint-Nicolas-d’Aliermont was renowned in France as a centre of light engineering, particularly clocks. Practically everyone in France woke up to […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2022/06/clock-museum-in-saint-nicolas-daliermont-normandy/feed/ 0 Norfolk and Western Railway archives have a new home https://mechtraveller.com/2022/04/norfolk-and-western-railway-archives-have-a-new-home/ https://mechtraveller.com/2022/04/norfolk-and-western-railway-archives-have-a-new-home/#respond Thu, 07 Apr 2022 13:10:19 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=7379 The Norfolk Southern Corporation is donating its complete collection of historical documents and archives from predecessor company Norfolk and Western Railway to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC). The collection dates from the 1840s and includes thousands of photographs and glass plate negatives, as well as business records, annual reports, blueprints, plans, bridge […]

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]]> https://mechtraveller.com/2022/04/norfolk-and-western-railway-archives-have-a-new-home/feed/ 0 An old sugar factory is turned into a modern hotel complex – with machinery! https://mechtraveller.com/2022/03/an-old-sugar-factory-is-turned-into-a-modern-hotel-complex-with-machinery/ https://mechtraveller.com/2022/03/an-old-sugar-factory-is-turned-into-a-modern-hotel-complex-with-machinery/#respond Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:58:18 +0000 https://mechtraveller.com/?p=7357 The Cukrownia Żnin (“Znin Sugar Factory”) in Poland is an industrial heritage project, repurposing an old sugar factory and preserving its magnificent 19th century buildings. Up until 2004, it produced sugar from beets. Now it is a hotel complex. If you like industrial design and architecture, this is one of those new ‘designer’ hotel projects […]

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