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Tony oily bike
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« on: February 14, 2015, 05:45:11 PM » |
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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.  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! |
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There's nowt as light as a hole, so add lightness.
Our lady of blessed acceleration, don't fail me now! - Elwood Blues
Nitro doesn't add power, it multiplies it! Bob Loux, running 10.07 secs @138mph on a 650 normally aspirated Triumph drag bike in 1965!
"Incontinence Hotline" - please hold.
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Manky Monkey
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« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2015, 06:52:39 PM » |
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I saw it as a location for a steampunk inspired film recently -The Adventurer.
I'll try & be there on the Sunday.
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« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2015, 09:30:57 PM » |
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-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.
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Manky Monkey
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« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2015, 09:32:28 PM » |
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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.
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« Last Edit: March 22, 2015, 09:36:42 PM by Manky Monkey »
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« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2015, 09:39:02 PM » |
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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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« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2015, 09:40:02 PM » |
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« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2015, 09:42:17 PM » |
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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.
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« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2015, 09:48:36 PM » |
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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.
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« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2015, 09:51:11 PM » |
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I'm not a fan of heights & the top platform's a long way up. The guides got hard hats. We didn't.
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« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2015, 09:54:40 PM » |
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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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« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2015, 09:55:38 PM » |
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« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2015, 09:57:23 PM » |
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Banks of drip fed lubrication on the second engine.
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« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2015, 09:59:56 PM » |
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« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2015, 10:05:08 PM » |
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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.
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« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2015, 10:06:39 PM » |
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One of the old boiler doors.
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