Bradford Industrial Museum
Bradford Industrial Museum a Victorian worsted spinning mill complex built in 1875 and converted to a museum in 1974. The Museum has permanent displays of textile machinery, steam power, engineering, printing machinery and motor vehicles, along with an exciting exhibitions programme.
As you peer into the yard you will see Moorside House which is the house owned by the original Mill-Owner John Moore. There is also a 1950s house, a 1940s house and an 1870s house.
As you enter the drive to the car park you will pass a Thomas Smith of Rodley self-propelled steam crane and static derrick, the simplest form of crane, with a large block of dressed stone acting as the kentledge or counterweight.
The entrance hall is where all the temporary events take place. The day we visited Modelmania were exhibiting and there were a good selection members models along with many from the museums own collection.
Motive Power Gallery
After passing through the exhibitions gallery you will enter the motive power gallery. In this room you will find Machine tools and machines powered by water, steam, gas and oil.
The steam engine helped to power the Industrial Revolution. Before steam power, most factories and mills were powered by water, wind, horse, or man. ... Steam power allowed for factories to be located anywhere. It also provided reliable power and could be used to power large machines
The motive power gallery is a big room and you can smell the warm oil as you enter. The room is filled with steam powered engines, machine tools and The Bradford Waterwheel
The water wheel was built in 1860 for Ramsgill timber saw mill in Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales. The water wheel powered a circular saw at the mill until 1910. In 1972 it was given as a gift to Bradford Industrial Museum. It has since been restored and runs daily in the Motive Power Gallery.
Other steam powered machines on display include the Newton and Bean Uniflow engine, a Crossley engine and a Horizontal single cylinder steam engine by J B Clabour of Guiseley.
You can see a demonstration of the machines running at different times of the week.
Machine running times - subject to availability, please ring before your visit to confirm
Motive Power: Tues to Fri 10:30am - 11am and 2:15pm - 2:30pm / Sat & Sun 11:30am - 11:45am and 2pm - 2:15pm
Motive Power Gallery
The printing gallery contains various different types of printing machines and equipment, also kept in working order and regularly demonstrated, which includes machinery from the last hot metal typesetting print works. The printing gallery at Bradford Industrial Museum is run by volunteers, who use to work in the industry. The demonstrations are on Wednesdays; you’ll leave with a souvenir bookmark.
First Floor Textile Galleries
Bradford was once the wool capital of the world and the upstairs gallery gives a small insight into the workings of this Victorian Revolution.. The displays show how a fleece was transformed through various stages into a suit. There is a demonstration of the working machines several times a week: contact the Museum for current demonstration times.
Transport
In the tramshed you will find Bradford tramcar No.104, which was restored after the closure of the tramways in Bradford and retains the system’s local gauge of 4 foot. plus a Bradford trolleybus which ran from 1911 to 1972. .
