Thursford Collection

The Thursford Collection is a museum in Thursford, Norfolk, founded by George Cushing. It houses a large collection of steam engines, mechanical organs and fairground rides. Each year, over 100,000 people visit for its Christmas spectacular show. George Cushing began collecting steam engines in the 1930s when they were being replaced by diesel lorries. He stored and restored them at Laurel Farm, where he had worked as a boy. By the 1970s, his collection had grown so much that he opened a museum in old farm sheds. Today, the museum includes a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, the fourth-largest in Europe, with 1,339 pipes. There is also a 19th-century gondola merry-go-round built by Frederick Savage, decorated with carved heads of Queen Victoria and her family. The collection is now run by Cushing’s youngest son, John.