The great Victorian novelist, Charles Dickens, is probably best remembered today for his evocative descriptions of 19th Century London life, in such literary classics as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield. What is perhaps less well known is Dickens' role as a prominent campaigner for improvements in the living and working conditions for London's poor.

One of Dickens' concerns was the quality of the public water supply, and it was whilst researching this topic that he visited the Grand Junction Water Works Company's Kew Bridge Pumping Station in March 1850. Dickens recorded details of his investigative visit in his campaigning journal Household Words, in the article entitled "The Troubled Water Question", published in April 1850.

Available to pre-booked groups between Monday and Friday only, Kew Bridge Steam Museum's new "Follow in the Footsteps of Dickens" group tour will follow the route taken by Dickens around the waterworks. Groups will be led by a costumed guide in the role of the Station Foreman, explaining, as his predecessor did to Dickens, how Londoners received their water, as well as touching upon the social reform movement of the 19th Century.

Groups will see the great pumping engine working under steam, which Dickens was moved to describe as "a monster! Imagine an enormous see-saw, with a steam engine at one end, and a pump at the other. Fancy this "beam", some ten yards long, and twenty-eight tons in weight" the ends of which show a circumference greater than the crown of the biggest hat ever worn. See, with what earnest deliberation the "see", or engine, pulls up the "saw", or balance-box of the pump, which then comes down with the ferocious plomb of 49 tons, sending 400 gallons of water in one tremendous squirt.(Household Words April 1850) They will also have the opportunity to see or climb the Standpipe Tower, which is not normally open to visitors.

Flexibility will be a key element of the tour package with groups being offered a variety of options to create either a full day or half day tour suited to their needs. For example, a full day tour would include tea and coffee on arrival, the museum tour, and then a choice of a sandwich buffet or traditional pub lunch followed by an illustrated lecture. Other whole day options are currently being investigated and we will keep you updated. A half day tour will be based around the museum visit with lunch either before or after the tour. Both options will include the operation of the "monster" engine.

Prices for the half-day option, inclusive of all costs (based on the sandwich buffet lunch at the museum), will be £10 per head or £8 for seniors based on a minimum of twenty persons.