Abbey Pumping Station, Leicester - Oct '08

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Mr Sam

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first off this wasnt an explore as such as it was an open evning although an open evning with a differance as its very rare to be allowed down below the flywheel all be it on a guided ghost tour, appologies for some of the shots as it wasnt allways practical to whip the tri-pod out and start shining the torch around, havent seen the engine running since i was about 5 absolutly terrified me back then :rolleyes: things allways seem so much bigger when your young

met up with Mattdonut and we bumped into waynesbitz1 who volonteers here also by chance met agk good to meet you :thumb

The four steam engines were built in Leicester by Gimson and Company and today are rare examples of Woolf compound rotative beam engines. At the time these engines were built they were considered an old-fashioned but very well-practiced design, as many engine designers had turned their attention to horizontal and early vertical designs instead.

These engines are rated at 200 hp, at 12–19 rpm, of which they pumped 208,000 imperial gallons of sewage an hour (263 L/s).

Three of the four engines have been restored back to working condition, by a dedicated team of volunteers: the Leicester Museums Technology Association. It is the only engine house in the world where you can see four working examples of the same beam engine in one building.

Current projects in the engine house are the on-going maintenance of the latest restored engine, No.4 (restored over a period of some 10 years by the volunteers), and the total restoration of the only non-working engine (No.1), of which the sewage pump is currently seized due to old age!

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going from the near freezing to a hot humid steamy room.....imminant lens fogging

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down to about the level of the river bed (appologies for blurryness)

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was very atmosphericall.....dark with the odd lantern

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the 21ton flywheel spinning away nicely above our heads as some guy tells us about how he had to clean the valves with his bare hands....rembering this was a sewage pumping station

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old skool signage

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next we move to the top floor.....where it is bloody warm :).....big connecting rod thingy

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only the one engine running this evning

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roof steelwork is quite something

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the axel, mattdonut at the end taking a shot of the beam

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light switches, apparently people walking past me were giving me very funny looks at the ammount of pictures i was taking of these with the tri-pod pressed against the wall

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could feel the heat radiating off it, i know back in the day it would of been a horrible smelly job not for the faint hearted but at least you would be warm in winter

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2 of the engines from above

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more steam

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back on the first floor

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me and the mistical hole of steam

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inside the hole of steam...
 
That is just fabulous! Love that sign and how colourful it is in there, as well as the engines. Your photos are very atmospheric. Excellent stuff! :)
 
nice report mate here are a few of mine
the main beam
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and again
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pressure clocks
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the flywheel
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the con rod
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this place was also known as beaumont leys pumping station the sewage from leicester was pumnped from here to beaumont leys where is was put into seperating tanks, its called abbey pumping station as it was built only a couple of hundred yards from abbey lane in leicester.

just a little add from sams description of the place.

the 4 engines were used from 1892 up until around 1920's, and then as the city grew so did its sewage problem and the beams couldnt cope, so another building was built as an add on to the pumping station in 1926 and it housed 4 large tange electric pumps which worked along side the beam engines up to the stations closure in 1964.

the tange pumps were removed in 1976 and re used elsewhere and the electricity sub station and switch gear for the pumps were romoved by myself and other volenteers about a month ago.

only 2 of the engines would only have ever been in use at any one time with one engine being left on standby and the other engine being worked on and maintained these were fed by 8 lancashire boilers, 2 per engine. one of the original boilers is still in place and on display while the others were removed to make way for the main museum.
 
Some great shots here. Very colourful and give you a sense of movement. It's great that folk have looked after this old stuff. Thanks for sharing with us. :)
 
this place was also known as beaumont leys pumping station the sewage from leicester was pumnped from here to beaumont leys where is was put into seperating tanks, its called abbey pumping station as it was built only a couple of hundred yards from abbey lane in leicester.

just a little add from sams description of the place.

the 4 engines were used from 1892 up until around 1920's, and then as the city grew so did its sewage problem and the beams couldnt cope, so another building was built as an add on to the pumping station in 1926 and it housed 4 large tange electric pumps which worked along side the beam engines up to the stations closure in 1964.

the tange pumps were removed in 1976 and re used elsewhere and the electricity sub station and switch gear for the pumps were romoved by myself and other volenteers about a month ago.

only 2 of the engines would only have ever been in use at any one time with one engine being left on standby and the other engine being worked on and maintained these were fed by 8 lancashire boilers, 2 per engine. one of the original boilers is still in place and on display while the others were removed to make way for the main museum.

Thank you, sounds like a visit is in order.:mrgreen:
 
its well worth a visit, although it wont take long to see the ste as its not a huge place, ill dig out the dates of the next steam days and post them here, at least then you can see the engines in steam and also a lot of the restored vehicles and bits will be out of the big shed and on display.

there is about 100 volenteers and about 30 of them being active in various restoration projects around the site (meself being one of them).
we do boast a host of rareitys in the main sheds, we have the oldest (working) leyland lorry in exsistence, (a 1911 leicster tramways tower wagon) and also a 1963 electric mini, only 2 were produced and the other caught fire and was scraped in the late 1960's amongst other horse drawn, petrol,deseil and steam vehicles.
 
its well worth a visit, although it wont take long to see the ste as its not a huge place, ill dig out the dates of the next steam days and post them here, at least then you can see the engines in steam and also a lot of the restored vehicles and bits will be out of the big shed and on display.

there is about 100 volenteers and about 30 of them being active in various restoration projects around the site (meself being one of them).
we do boast a host of rareitys in the main sheds, we have the oldest (working) leyland lorry in exsistence, (a 1911 leicster tramways tower wagon) and also a 1963 electric mini, only 2 were produced and the other caught fire and was scraped in the late 1960's amongst other horse drawn, petrol,deseil and steam vehicles.

Thanks, it will be good to know the dates of the steam days. It does not matter if it will not take too long, as another site looks interesting not to far away.

Sounds like my kind of place with all the old vehicles, the beam engines and the building its self look great.
 
i remeber seeing that mini on one open day just one great whacking lump of electric motor under the bonnet!
 
Interesting stuff,nice shots too,they capture the atmosphere and the action of the machinery.Good to know you guys are looking after and restoring the place,makes a pleasant change from the normal demolition mentality of today:)
 
Especially loved photo No 11 - with the little spout of the oil dripper lubricating the shaft !
It looked like the bottle needed refilling.
 
Especially loved photo No 11 - with the little spout of the oil dripper lubricating the shaft !
It looked like the bottle needed refilling.


i dont know a great deal about the workings on the engine as i help out mainly with the site railway, but as far as im aware its a self filling oiler, which is oil is automaticly pumped in (the upper pipe) into the oiler when it reaches a certain level.

the most fascinating part about this setup is that you can stand at the most noisiest part of the engine and still hold a normal conversation without raising your voice. everything runs so smoothly and quiet.
 
seconded! all it gives off is heat which is nothing to complain about when its freezing outside ;)
 
Thanks, it will be good to know the dates of the steam days. It does not matter if it will not take too long, as another site looks interesting not to far away.

Sounds like my kind of place with all the old vehicles, the beam engines and the building its self look great.

as requested the christmas toys steam day is on sunday 7th of december from 1-5 and around 3pm all 3 beam engines should be in steam, this is the only place in europe that this happens.

just a note on the resoration of number beam engine, the sezied sewage pump that packed up in the 1960's is finally out, it took over 5 years of dedication and patience but last night around 8.30 pm the 5 ton pitson was removed from its housing and now ready to be cleaned off and refitted, iinformation says its the first time its been out for 118 years since the place was built, i never got any photos as i was up to my neck in rust and crap but i know a few were taken and if i can get hold of any pics i will post them.
 

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