Manky Monkey Motors

Carrying on from Andy's steam-theme..............

The Kempton Steam Museum is almost next door to Kempton Park, and on Sat 21st March (day of the next jumble) and Sunday 22nd, the "Triple" will be in steam.

If you like your engines on the BIG side, this should do the trick.  :o
Went there a few years ago with matey Dslam, and it was well worth the visit.


http://www.kemptonsteam.org/   from their website:

A visit to Kempton can be summed up in one three-letter word: WOW! No photograph or video can prepare you for the breathtaking sight of the world’s largest working triple-expansion steam pumping engine in action. Come and see the huge 33-ton flywheels spinning round on their 30-ton crankshaft and watch the massive con rods rise and fall in rhythmic splendour. At 62 feet high, and weighing 1,000 tons, the engine is the size of a block of flats… and it’s not alone because our magnificent Art Deco building houses two of them!

I saw it as a location for a steampunk inspired film recently -The Adventurer.
I'll try & be there on the Sunday.

-and I was.

Today being World Water Day, it seemed appropriate to go & take a look around the Kempton water pumping station.
I've been passing the twin chimneys of this landmark building on the way into London since the days of sitting in the back of my Dad's car as a kid, but never knew it housed a steam engine -& one of the largest in Europe too.
Work started on it in 1926, with the 2 engines being built & tested abroad, then painstakingly taken apart, shipped to Britain & rebuilt in the magnificent 4 storey station at Kempton, just off the A316 to the West of the city. Drinking water used to be drawn from the Thames at the same point as London's sewers emptied into it -until a Typhoid & Cholera epidemic swept the city & it was decided a new pumping facility should be built upstream of the sewers in a non tidal stretch of the Thames. It was ready for use by 1928.
There were originally going to be 3 engines, but the 3rd was never built as technology had moved on by then & turbine pumps were used instead. One engine is completely restored & "in steam" on various weekends during the Summer, while the second is kept as a static display with inspection covers removed to show the internals. 2 turbines occupy the central space where the 3rd engine would've sat.

The building was eventually abandoned & the engines simply left to rust away. When it was finally given protected "listed" status, a trust was set up to restore it as a museum. By then the windows were all broken, flocks of pigeons had left excrement several feet deep in places in the engines & the lower floor was flooded 20 feet deep in rain water.

It's impossible to convey the sheer scale of the structure -it's vast. The engines stand 62 feet high. That's an awful lot of green paint & polished copper.

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It took a team of 17 engineers to run the 2 pumps, with shifts keeping it running 24 hours a day, supplying water to the city. The new electric pumping station that replaced it is completely automated -no staff at all.

A tea shop supplies visitors with tea & cake -I joined a guided tour with half a dozen visitors, each armed with a mug of tea & a chunk of Victoria sponge cake. Andy, the tour guide said they're a nightmare to run cos chaps keep wandering off to peer at the huge cogs & gears -an overgrown schoolkid's dream.

I'm not a fan of heights & the top platform's a long way up. The guides got hard hats. We didn't.

My little digital camera struggles in low light, so apologies for the dark photos. The building's actually very well lit, with walls of glazed brick & full height windows. A beautiful piece of Art Deco architecture for such a mundane purpose. Britain had so much more style back then.

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Banks of drip fed lubrication on the second engine.

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While we were halfway up the second engine, the crew fired up the first one. It's surprisingly quiet for it's size, chugging away like Ivor the engine with an occasional puff of steam from one end. It runs amazingly smoothly with the 30 ton flywheels spinning effortlessly at 25rpm.

One of the old boiler doors.

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Electrickery for the turbine pumps.

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The steaming weekends often feature other attractions. As this is the Spring Equinox weekend the lower floor was filled with jingly hanky wavers. There's no more terrifying sight than the massed armies of Morris Dancers.

There really is no excuse for this.  :P

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A symphony of squeeze boxes. I'm not convinced they were all playing the same tune.

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Walk softly & carry a big stick -or cover yourself in flowers & jingly bells.

Loudest sound in the building -Morris dancers running up the stairs.

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The local Mayoress enjoying afternoon tea.

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The engines are fired by coal, originally brought up the Thames in barges, but later by rail. The trust hope to restore a section of the rail track soon as the footings for it are still there.

The 2 landmark chimneys were actually built 23 years apart.
Having passed this so many times over the years, it was fascinating to actually take a look inside. I'm really glad I made the effort to go.
Check the link at the start of this thread for further open weekends & try & go. £7 entry, but they only take cash, no card payments.
Whether you're a steam fan or not, it's a beautiful creation & a testament to the skills that used to make Britain Great.

Sounds like you kinder liked it then???  ;D

Visited it a few years ago, its an amazing place, and the sheer size of the engine, wow!


I'd recommend a visit to The London Museum of Water and Steam, which used to be known as the Kew Pumping Station before re-branding.

Here they have the "the 100 inch" engine which is the largest surviving single cylinder beam engine in the world.

http://waterandsteam.org.uk/

Great place, that would keep an old coppersmith happy 'til his dying day. Steam is my era, long let it be remembered. BUT, as my old chief used to say " its just boiling a kettle lad" that's what counts ;D

 ;D I drove to the Ace Cafe afterwards for something to eat & passed the Kew steam museum on the way.
I know nothing about steam power but just love watching it in action.
There was a small tea room at Kempton - I spent ages leaning on the guardrail with a bunch of old guys, all armed with a mug of tea in one hand & a wadge of home made cake in the other, just gazing at this machine the size of a house as it whirred away. Fabulous.