A trial steaming using Homefire Ecoal (partially made from coal with a proportion of ground olive stones) was held on 5 July 2022, having warmed the boiler through the previous day.

The team of Crofton volunteers started their first test on the 120 year old Lancashire boiler. No one was really sure how this alternative fuel would burn, or if enough steam could be raised to run the 200 year old beam engines.

Here is what happened…