The Metropolitan Water Board decided not to scrap the resident steam pumping engines and set them aside to form the basis of a museum display at a later date.

This action bore fruit in 1974 with the formation of the Kew Bridge Engines Trust, a registered charity, by a group of volunteers previously involved in the restoration of the Crofton Pumping Station.

In 1999, the United Kingdom government Department for Culture, Media and Sport described Kew Bridge as "the most important historic site of the water supply industry in Britain".

The museum runs a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge railway which in 2009 saw the introduction of a new-build Wren Class steam locomotive, named for the engineer Thomas Wicksteed.

The line runs for 400 yards around the Kew Bridge site, and passenger trains are operated at weekends and on other special event days.

[5] The ancillary buildings, which include a fully working forge and belt driven workshop,[7] are used by a number of independent artists and creatives.

[3] The museum has been a filming location for episodes of TV serials including EastEnders, The Bill, Doctor Who ("Remembrance of the Daleks") and Industrial Age.