Introduction
Back to the pumping stations with one of mine and @JakeV50's finds from a couple of months ago. Jake has already posted this one but I thought I would also share my take on the site.
Information & History
The Lower Padnal station was responsible for draining the Padnal and Waterden districts into the Great Ouse. This section of the Great Ouse is also known as Sandy's cut. This district was originally drained by two windpumps that were erected in 1833, these were located on each side of the cut. These were sufficient at the time, but one of them burnt down 25 years after construction.
Many of the pumps across the Fens were originally powered by wind but these proved to be unreliable when winds were not strong enough, thus widespread flooding was a lot more common. Thanks to the industrial revolution, steam power became the norm for powering many of these pumps until Diesel technology developed in the early 20th Century.
A horizontal single-cylinder steam engine manufactured by Easton & Anderson replaced the wind pump at Lower Padnal following a successful experiment running the pump off a locomotive engine. This was added in 1881, which is presumably the same year the original windpump on site was demolished and the building featured in this report was constructed. The engine flywheel was 8ft and steam was supplied at 60 psi by a single boiler. The engine ran at 79 rpm. The boiler was replaced in 1925 with a Dodman’s Cornish unit. The engine was scrapped in 1937 and was replaced with a 2-cylinder Allen Diesel engine producing 56 BHP which drove what looks to be quite a large centrifugal pump which is still present. It is not known when the electric pump replaced the diesel setup, I would imagine it was during the 1960s-1970s like many other examples in the area.
Founded in 1864, Easton & Anderson specialised in the manufacture of many heavy engineering products:
This building is now redundant following the installation of an electric pump in a small building on the same site.
The Explore
Originally, I thought this site was perhaps still in use with an electric pump inside and the engine removed, but as it turns out the old building is fully disused, and a new building on site, no bigger than a garden shed, now handles all pump duties here. We didn’t expect to get in, but to our surprise, the building was unlocked. We did unfortunately disturb an owl living inside but had no other issues and spent a good hour or so inside getting photos and looking at the engine & pump setup.
Below is a photo of the engine house in 1973. Not much has changed over the years but the cooling tower has now been removed and the building to the far right of the image has now been removed. The photo is from K.S.G Hinde's Fenland Pumping Engines book, which I got hold of recently.
The site today:
To the left is the new electric pumping station, but the original building remains the dominant feature of the site:
Heading on inside, there really isn't too much to the building with the main centerpiece being the Allen engine. In the corner sits the old centrifugal pump:
A few more shots of the engine:
The pump:
There was some sort of graffiti/artwork on the wall here of an old ship, not sure if this dates back to when the pumping station was operating. I very much doubt it, either way it's pretty cool:
And finally, the old inlet into Sandy's Cut:
Thanks for looking.
Back to the pumping stations with one of mine and @JakeV50's finds from a couple of months ago. Jake has already posted this one but I thought I would also share my take on the site.
Information & History
The Lower Padnal station was responsible for draining the Padnal and Waterden districts into the Great Ouse. This section of the Great Ouse is also known as Sandy's cut. This district was originally drained by two windpumps that were erected in 1833, these were located on each side of the cut. These were sufficient at the time, but one of them burnt down 25 years after construction.
Many of the pumps across the Fens were originally powered by wind but these proved to be unreliable when winds were not strong enough, thus widespread flooding was a lot more common. Thanks to the industrial revolution, steam power became the norm for powering many of these pumps until Diesel technology developed in the early 20th Century.
A horizontal single-cylinder steam engine manufactured by Easton & Anderson replaced the wind pump at Lower Padnal following a successful experiment running the pump off a locomotive engine. This was added in 1881, which is presumably the same year the original windpump on site was demolished and the building featured in this report was constructed. The engine flywheel was 8ft and steam was supplied at 60 psi by a single boiler. The engine ran at 79 rpm. The boiler was replaced in 1925 with a Dodman’s Cornish unit. The engine was scrapped in 1937 and was replaced with a 2-cylinder Allen Diesel engine producing 56 BHP which drove what looks to be quite a large centrifugal pump which is still present. It is not known when the electric pump replaced the diesel setup, I would imagine it was during the 1960s-1970s like many other examples in the area.
Founded in 1864, Easton & Anderson specialised in the manufacture of many heavy engineering products:
This building is now redundant following the installation of an electric pump in a small building on the same site.
The Explore
Originally, I thought this site was perhaps still in use with an electric pump inside and the engine removed, but as it turns out the old building is fully disused, and a new building on site, no bigger than a garden shed, now handles all pump duties here. We didn’t expect to get in, but to our surprise, the building was unlocked. We did unfortunately disturb an owl living inside but had no other issues and spent a good hour or so inside getting photos and looking at the engine & pump setup.
Below is a photo of the engine house in 1973. Not much has changed over the years but the cooling tower has now been removed and the building to the far right of the image has now been removed. The photo is from K.S.G Hinde's Fenland Pumping Engines book, which I got hold of recently.
The site today:
To the left is the new electric pumping station, but the original building remains the dominant feature of the site:
Heading on inside, there really isn't too much to the building with the main centerpiece being the Allen engine. In the corner sits the old centrifugal pump:
A few more shots of the engine:
The pump:
There was some sort of graffiti/artwork on the wall here of an old ship, not sure if this dates back to when the pumping station was operating. I very much doubt it, either way it's pretty cool:
And finally, the old inlet into Sandy's Cut:
Thanks for looking.
