Kew Bridge Pumping Station and British Engineerium
This weeks collection are of Victorian buildings and its workings.
The first 10 photos are from a visit we had to Kew Pumping Station in London at the beginning of January, we had never been and on a freezing cold morning took a trip to see what it offered and it was very interesting.
The second batch of photos this week I took in March 2010 when we visited The British Engineerium at Hove, West Sussex. It has been closed for a while after it was sold and this was the first time it had its doors open to the public for a few years. We have a soft spot for this beautiful building as for many years it was home for our traction engine Victoria and this is where my husband had his first drive of her.
Anyway on with the photos....
The large boiler, Kew Bridge Pumping Station
This is one of the large boilers which is on display, I believe this one is only for display purpose but they do have one which they use and is housed somewhere else in the grounds.
The Easton Amos Engines
This is one of the large engines on display in their Steam Hall.
Its original location was at Cliftonville Pumping Station, Northampton and was restored by the trust in 1977-78.
Boulton Watt West Cornish Engine
This is the oldest Cornish engine at Kew Bridge and was built originally in 1820. It was originally installed at Chelsea but moved to Kew in 1839-40. This was the first of the engines to be restored to working condition at Kew in 1975.
Here we are standing at the top by the beam looking down through the workings to the gent working the machine below.
The James Simpson "Waddon" Engine.
This is one of the last of the engines to have been used commercially in Britain by The Waddon Pumping Station until it was shut down in 1983, it was then dismantled and moved to Kew by the trust's volunteers in 1984.
The Tower
This is Kew's Tower, standing at 197ft it dominates the site and is a lovely piece of English heritage.
The narrow gauge railway
This is a short trip round the outside of the site, it's not where the original line ran but it gives you an insight into how the small engine was used on the fairly small area. The children all seem to be enjoying themselves on a freezing cold January day...
Looking down
Here we're looking down from the beam of the 90inch engine, called The Grand Junction 90-inch Engine because it has a 90inch cylinder bore. This engine was built in 1846 and was the second of the trust engines to be restored in 1976 and is the largest beam engine in working order.
The large beam engine at the British Engineerium
So now onto the British Engineerium at Hove, this is my youngest watching intently...
Another smaller engine
Sadly I can't find out much information on the engines and items in the engineerium.
Visiting engines
On the day that we were there they had 3 visiting engines.
From left to right. Marshall traction engine, Garrett Super heated traction engine and finally Burrell tractor.
