Archive for The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum The Original Toy Steam Forum Established 2006 The biggest, most popular global steam forum around! Accept NO imitations! We have a growing community of regular posting members who chat about all aspects of toy and model steam.          The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum Forum Index -> Full Size Steam Swift Fox Volunteering at the Abbey Pumping Station A while back when i was at Mr Bowman's Birthday in November last year, i mentioned to Fred about having a nose around Abbey Pumping Station when it was quieter as it is always very busy during steam events such as STIA and i never really got a chance to admire the station for what it is. I have just got back from APS and my thanks go to Fred for inviting me down and giving me a tour around and showing me parts of the station not normally open to the general public. Had i have known beforehand, i would of visited the station last Monday as they got the No 1 engine in steam for the first time after freeing up the seized pump. It was great to have a proper look around and have a good natter with Fred and i'm looking forward to when all four beam engines will be in steam which should be some sight. Many thanks for giving me the tour round Fred. One of the pumps in the bowels of the station. Swift Fox Lancashire boiler from 1925, with corrugated firetubes. The engine that kicked off STIA, A Wilesco D20 from the 1970's. Stilldrillin That would be quite a sight, all four running together.......   Thanks for the pics, Philip!   davidcurtis021 nice pics philip Roly Williams Great photos, Phil. I'm glad you got the lighting right. It's usually quite dark in there, especially the ground floor. I'd love to see a video of all four going together or, even better, be there to see it in the flesh steamtrack Thanks for sharing the pics Les Great pictures, thanks for sharing them with us.   Swift Fox Roly Williams wrote: Great photos, Phil. I'm glad you got the lighting right. It's usually quite dark in there, especially the ground floor. I'd love to see a video of all four going together or, even better, be there to see it in the flesh Cheers Roly, it is a bit of a challenge due to the darkeness and i did lighten up a few shots in Photoshop to try and compensate. The hardest area to photo was the basement with the pumps which is acessed down two spiral staircases from the ground floor and the camera and flash really struggled to capture anything and i only got one decent shot down there. From what Fred told me they will need another boiler to generate enough steam to run all four engines but it is looking very positive. Wallace Great pics and thanks for sharing them   Sandman Magic stuff. Atticman Lovely to see Philip, and huge credit to the team there to have got all 4 engines running- what an achievement   magpie38 great pics many thanks for sharing Swift Fox New photos Had a productive day at APS and did my first job as a volunteer polishing some of the brasswork, i also had fun playing trains with Fred on the beam floor. Few photos below: Nice and shiny. Brass bands on the cylinders. Two of us polished all the gauges on both panels. The other panel. Nice and shiny from a distance. Swift Fox More general photos: Massive flywheel. Spiral Stairwell to the basement. Beautiful decorated pillars. Flyball governors. Watt's parallel motion. Cylinder tops. Swift Fox Fred's Mamod locomotives Mamod SL1. Two Mamod SL's. Heading my way. Steaming well. All in all i've had a very nice day and have been made very welcome by all the volunteers despite being the 'newbie'. Since i have exhibited at STIA three years running i think it is good to put some time and effort back into the museum and help out the people that make it all possible. MrDuck A bit bigger engines than most of us have and some training fun as well Earlytimes Thanks for the pic's, Phillip Steve_S Very good picture Philip. It really is a palace of steam isn't it? It's difficult to appeciate it properly at STIA because of all the other stuff that's there. Swift Fox Thanks Steve, it is a challenge to take photos there as it is so dark even in the daytime and like you say you don't get much time to appreciate the station fully during busy events such as STIA. zzubnik What makes me sad is that I could spend all day in a place like this, but my family would be bored and complaining as we walked in through the door. MrDuck You're not alone there, Nik Stoker Don't take the family! You go do the things that they want most of the time right? So claim a little time for yourself once in a while! Let them go do whatever interest them without you occasionally. Philip, that place is just incredibly beautiful. The artistry that went hand and hand with Industrial Engineering back then was simply magnificent! fcrammond zzubnik wrote: What makes me sad is that I could spend all day in a place like this, but my family would be bored and complaining as we walked in through the door. Why not drop them off at the Space Centre next door? I know it costs an arm and a leg to get in but I'm told it's quite entertaining and would occupy them for at least an hour while you enjoyed the real thing. IndianaRog Thanks for the great photos Philip.  If I ever get back to England for a visit again, I will tour APS...what a grand thing it is! Swift Fox IndianaRog wrote: Thanks for the great photos Philip.  If I ever get back to England for a visit again, I will tour APS...what a grand thing it is! It would be nice to give you a tour round if you do visit over here sometime Rog. I've currently been working with the beam engine gang in the evenings helping clean up the tops of the cylinders on No3 engine. I also found some Autosol so i'm planning to redo all the brasswork i did previously as i find it works better than Brasso for some bits. johnreid Thanks for posting this, I really enjoyed visiting there for the STIA that I attended and was truly fascinated with the place Swift Fox A couple of videos I had a good time at APS this morning and i got to play with some full size engines which made a nice change. Here is me at the controls of No2 engine: No 2 engine running: Various smaller engines in the boilerhouse/gallery: Stilldrillin I'm feeling quite jealous now.......   Thanks for showing, Philip!   kevininasia Wow, that looks like a fascinating place. You got to play with steam engines both huge and small. Lucky you. MrDuck Well, Sir Philip, I envy your priviledge of working these living breathing moving engines ian.allen2 Great pics and vids Philip. I have not been to the pumping station since 1979, even though now, I only live 5 mins drive away. Seeing the large beam engine running, bought back memories as they started it up when I was there all them years ago. Thanks for showing them. Swift Fox Thanks guys, i must admit i did have a blast and it is the first time i have really got 'hands on' with any full size steam engine. Starting the big beam engine was fun as two of us had to 'kickstart' the flywheel with a crowbar to start it and it does go really fast to begin with. I'm looking forward to the April 15th event as the engines will be running again during the day. Swift Fox architecture I was at APS today to setup for the steam day that is tomorrow (i hope to do a report on here of that) and i thought i'd share a closeup photo that i took of the masonary that is above the front entrance of the station: Here is a shot i took earlier in the year of the front of the station: I hope to take some more shots of the architecture soon and hopefully of the basement too. redryder This place looks amazing! Thanks for sharing it. Gil 46u One word beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! That was back when not only functional but a work of art. THANKS for sharing! When was this place built???? Thanks Jeff Swift Fox 46u wrote: When was this place built???? The station opened in 1891 Jeff. Thanks for the comments guys, whilst i would always recommend people to come and visit in person, one of the reasons for me posting this up was so that our overseas members could get an in depth look at the station. MrDuck You would guide then? Swift Fox Managed to get some decent photos of the basement today but first are a few more outdoor shots: Rear of the station with the boilerhouse. The electric pumphouse annex building. Front view, was styled to match the original architecture. Built in 1926. Connection to the river soar. Weir with the space centre in the background. Swift Fox The Basement of the Engine House This area is very rarely open to the public for obvious reasons(dark, damp, confined space, access. etc), Fred very kindly shown me down here before but i struggled to get decent photos but i managed to succeed today. Pump tanks. The basement is on two floor levels and this is the space directly underneath the massive cylinders of the beam engines. Sewage pump rod connected to the HP tail rod, the air pump for the condenser is behind it. Pipework. Valve gear. Eccentric rod. Valve gear for the cylinder which you can see. This is the bottom of the basement and that is the passageway to the other engines and staircase. The passageway to the space underneath the two flywheels. Each flywheel is 22 ton. Top of the pump plunger. The sewage pump of No2 engine. The gears on the inside of the flywheel are for operating the valvegear on the engine. That is about all of the photos of the site and it's engines and i hope that has given you all an insight to the station, it is a great privilege to volunteer here and play a small part in keeping these engines alive for the next generation of steam enthusiasts and members of the public. Roly Williams Great photos and it's good to see the bits not normally accessible. Stilldrillin Thank you, Philip!   KennethG Great stuff, please post more.  You've given me yet another place to visit for my next trip to the UK. Swift Fox Basement video I did a very short video of the view from the basement of No 2 engine running, i hope to do a longer one when i get another chance but this will do for now: Keith S I am amazed by how much effort in the "old days" went into decorating machinery. You would not expect something as prosaic as a water/sewage pumping station to contain engines that are lined out as elaborately as a restored narrow-gauge locomotive; or have polished brass, shiny wood, decorative tiles and carved masonry. It really shows the workmanship and pride that went into these things. It's nice to see, but I wonder: was it all futile, and are we more sensible now, or has our society lost some of its beauty and intrinsic value? It's hard to imagine a modern sewer worker taking time to polish wood and brass, or a manufacturer being willing to spend time and money doing elaborate lining jobs. Of course a lot of this maintenance was probably down to the "engineer" and of course powered machinery nowadays seldom has a dedicated engineer to look after it. Compare to a modern pumping station: Swift Fox Making History..... Had a very exhausting (barring engines is hard work!!) but productive day at APS last night, in preparation for the Vintage Festival this weekend we did a test run of all four beam engines. We also managed to get all four running at the same time for just over one minute until the boiler gave in. I managed to get a very short clip but it was a bit rushed, i think David also captured some more video. I must say it was a fantastic sight to behold and i think everyone involved deserves a big pat on the back for making it happen. Roly Williams Re: Making History..... Swift Fox wrote: Had a very exhausting (barring engines is hard work!!) but productive day at APS last night, in preparation for the Vintage Festival this weekend we did a test run of all four beam engines. We also managed to get all four running at the same time for just over one minute until the boiler gave in. I managed to get a very short clip but it was a bit rushed, i think David also captured some more video. I must say it was a fantastic sight to behold and i think everyone involved deserves a big pat on the back for making it happen. It would be great to see that in better lighting conditions.   pstodds looks great, maybe i will visit some day... Swift Fox Re: Making History..... Roly Williams wrote: It would be great to see that in better lighting conditions.   It is a challenge when it comes to lighting in the place and it is worse at night. Hopefully i might get some more footage at the weekend Roly. By the time i got up to the beam floor the boiler gave out so i didn't manage to get all four beams in motion, still it was a real buzz to see all four engines in action even if it was only for a moment. Swift Fox Sadly we were unable to repeat monday nights feat of all four beams running at the vintage festival as detailed in the other thread. I thought i'd also add the shot of me driving the A&P roller on this thread too since it is full size steam: I'm quite privileged that i have played with full size engines both mobile & stationary whilst working at APS! steamtrack That's a great experience Phill MrDuck Priviledged, I'll say. A very rare opportunity and I'm sure you saviour every moment of it        The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum Forum Index -> Full Size Steam Page 1 of 1