The Steam Elephant

We visited Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham today and were very impressed with most of the exhibits there. The site is on 300 acres of countryside and is laid out to replicate villages, a town, farms and lots more besides. We were there for a whole day and found it very interesting. Fish and chips cooked to an old recipe in a coal fired fish fryer were delicious.
The photograph is of a replica of the Steam Elephant created from a water colour and oil painting of the original which was built for Wallsend Colliery in 1814/15. It was designed by William Chapman for mining engineer John Buddle. Research by Beamish staff led to the production 0f a detailed design for the replica.