Wigan borough has three of the last big steam engines in the country, and people who still get them running. Steam Giants is a set of short films about the engines and the volunteers. We made it for The Fire Within, Wigan Council’s cultural manifesto for the borough.
The first film is Astley Green. The winding engine at the Lancashire Mining Museum was built by Yates & Thom of Blackburn: 3,300 horsepower, the largest surviving colliery winding engine of its type in Europe. It stopped in 1970 when the pit closed and ran again in 2013 because a group of volunteers refused to let it rust. Gary Green worked in mining for thirty years. Harold Heaton will tell you steam made this country the workshop of the world. They do the talking.
We kept every film the same. Interviews, the engine running, room for it to breathe. A drone to put each building in its town, then close in on the flywheel, the ropes, the brass and the oil cups. No music telling you what to feel.
The engines at Trencherfield Mill and Leigh Spinners follow below.
- Client Wigan Council, The Fire Within
- Locations Lancashire Mining Museum, Astley Green · Trencherfield Mill, Wigan Pier · Leigh Spinners Mill
- Films Three so far
- What we did Interviews, location filming, drone, edit, sound and grade
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