It will be full steam ahead at Cheshire's Lion Salt Works Museum’s third free Transport Festival on Saturday 8 June and Sunday 9 June. The multi award-winning industrial heritage museum, one of the foremost in the country, is located in Northwich, Cheshire. The action-packed weekend of free family fun will include historic narrow boats (located on the Trent & Mersey canal next to the Museum), up to four large steam traction engines and 12 miniature steam engines. There will also be a selection of vintage cars and commercial vehicles as well as maypole dancing, a vintage fairground organ, and a series of themed children's activities. Throughout the weekend there will be live music, a bar and freshly-produced food. Most of these activities are free and there is no charge to visit the cafe, play area or butterfly garden. The event will run from 10:30am - 4:30pm. For more information, visit www.westcheshiremuseums.co.uk or call 01606 275066.
Steam engines on display during the two-day event will include two 4" scale Burrell double crank compound Road Locos, "Lady Louisa' and "Alexander" as well as 'Bessie' a 3" scale Marshall traction engine, "Endurance" a 4" scale Tasker A2 Tractor and "Tommy" a 3" scale Burrell traction engine. Children will be able to ride on some of the mini traction engines at a cost of £1 per child. These engines come courtesy of Clive Hearsay and other local steam enthusiasts.
At the festival will be a number of historic boats from the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. These will include the 'Saturn'*, a 70-foot narrowboat built in 1906 and one of the last horse-drawn Shropshire Union Canal Flyboats in the World. The fully-restored boat, originally built to travel non-stop - day and night - transported good such as Cheshire cheese, salt and other precious cargoes. It is now used to educate future generations about the fascinating but hard lives of the waterway’s men, their boats and horses.
The Lion Salt Works Museum is one of the foremost industrial heritage sites in the UK. It is one of the last open-pan, salt-making sites in the World and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It tells the story of salt through fun, interactive displays and has won nine awards since opening in June 2015, after a four-year £10m refurbishment, including the National Lottery's 'Best Heritage Project 2016'. The restoration by Cheshire West and Chester Council was made possible thanks to a £5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.