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THE ENGINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD NEWCOMEN STEAM FESTIVAL | 25TH JULY 2026


T


here is an engine. It lies quietly in the Visitor Centre on Mayor’s Avenue. It’s


the first successful atmospheric steam engine, built by a Dart- mouth man named Thomas Newcomen in 1712. With- out it, there are no mines. No steel. No factories. No railways. No industrial revolution. No modern economy as we know it. The engine literally changed the world. But most people walk


straight past it. That changes on 25th July. The Newcomen Steam


Festival arrives this summer as a one-day celebration of Dartmouth’s extraordi- nary steam heritage, the engine that started it all, the railways that followed, and everything in between. Born from a partnership between the Dartmouth and District Chamber of Commerce and Explore Dartmouth, the festival began with a simple ambition: give Dartmouth the celebration it de- serves, bring new visitors to town, and give the people already here a reason to see their home with fresh eyes. The Dartmouth Museum has spent years telling Thomas Newcomen’s story with the care it deserves. On 25th July, the whole town joins in. Start the day as you mean to go


on: arrive by steam train on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. From there, the festival spreads across town. In the Guildhall, heritage railways, including the South Devon Railway and the Lynton and Barnstaple, exhibit alongside


that join us for Dartmouth Regatta will be on the Dart, and the King- swear Castle, the UK’s last coal-fired paddle steamer, will be moored at the pontoon, hopefully running to take passengers upriver. A self-guided timeline tour


connects the dots across town, linking every festival venue into a single route, with a few extra stops along the way: the Newcomen Engine in the Visitor Centre, and the Dartmouth station, built in anticipation of a railway that never came. Pick it up wherev- er you are and follow it at your own pace. At The Flavel, a programme of talks goes deeper still, including one from James Greener, who is writing what promises to be the defini- tive biography of Thomas Newcomen, and David Hulse, who made the Hulse Models on display in the Dartmouth


GWR and Network Rail, with model railway layouts winding around the room. Traction engines fill Coronation Park. A market takes over Avenue Gardens. Children’s activities run across the Guildhall and Dartmouth Library. Talks in The Flavel. Seek out the Newcomen Engine


in the Visitor Centre. Step inside the museum and find the extraordinary Hulse Models, which bring the age of steam to miniature life. On the water, the miniature steamboats


Museum. This is Dartmouth claiming its


place in the story of human history. Loudly, joyfully, and with a traction engine or two for good measure. The vision doesn’t stop at one


day. By 2029, the 300th anniversary of Newcomen’s death, the ambition is a multi-day festival, a permanent fixture on Dartmouth’s events calendar. Mark 25th July in your diary. The engine that changed the world. It started here.•


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