Stanley's pictures: We Started Out Early

Monday 1 April 2019

We Started Out Early

we were going steaming,

and here we are,

at the Crossness Sewage Treatment Works, not see the the modern works, but the huge beam engines that Joseph Bazalgette commissioned to be built at the site now known as Crossness Engines,

under construction,

a narrow gauge railway,

to take visitors from the car park,

nearer to,

here,

the engine house,

we walked past one of the three other attractions here, the valve house which we will explore later,

we made our way,

to the front of the building,

as the suitably attired in costume of the time,

staff opened up the attraction,

passing stationary engines,

and a display of water closets,

and a history of them, many thanks to Thomas Crapper,

hard hats on,

and we entered this cathedral to Victorian engineering,

there are four huge beam engines here,

one on a few days of the year like today are working,

one is being refurbished,

and two are being left as they are when the building was locked up and the modern plant took over,

the main pump house entrance hall is also being refurbished to it's former glory, here a after and before look at the central part of the building,

it looks just as it did when Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, better known as the husband and Prince Consort to Queen Victoria open the plant,

all four engines are named, this the unrestored 'Victoria',

and the restored 'Prince Consort',

now to fire up the big beast, firstly you need a little chap like this steam engine,

to slowly turn the big engine over, then at a predetermined part of it's cycle steam can be let in and the engine fires up, literally under it's own steam,

Diana was fascinated,

as was I,

Diana was using the small camera,

and wanted me out of the way,

but I had to get into a few of the photographs,

as did Diana,

as we went upstairs,

past the top of two of the unrestored cylinders of one of the engines,

not for the faint hearted, or like me with a fear of heights,

as you could see through the floor!

Diana was not too keen on that either!

but it did give us a chance to look closeup at the beams,

also have a pose,

and look down to the central hall,

the working engine on it's up,

and down stroke, this the steam end,

and here the pump end,

the now being refurbish engine, 12 years so far and still a lot of work to be done, volunteers welcome!

the pivot of the beam,

now that is what I call a nut!

Diana strikes the pose,

across the void,

I had to get into the pictures as well,

as Prince Consort working in the background,

at one end of the upper gallery there is the working engine and the one being refurbished,

at the other end the two engines that are being left as they are,

down we went,

past a few miniature models of steam engines,

I would like one if these for my 'Man Cave' as Diana calls the upstairs room at home,

at the ground floor we went down to the basement,

the stairs have a traffic like signal, as there is only one staircase,

the underside of the working engine,

with me in the way,

this one as found,

what a mammoth task it must have been not only building them but restoring one as well,

next door,

the pump room, with one of it's massive water pumps still here,

Diana strikes the pose,

as did I,

next upstairs for another look around the main hall,

and upto the gallery,

we were lucky in that we arrived early, so there were not many people around,

which gave us plenty of time to standback,

and admire the works,

in detail,

but it was soon filling up,

I had to meet the great man himself, Sir Joseph Bazalgette,

and shake by the hand, what a genius he truly was, if you are interested in engineering projects like this I cannot recommend this series highly enough, Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World, we bought it many years ago and enjoyed it immensely,

by now there was quite a queue waiting in the bitterly cold wind,

out of the wind,

the machine shop,

there were all manner of machines here,

some huge,

as indeed,

was this nut,

I am guessing all of the machines are working examples,

as one or two were being used whilst we were here,

by now the queue had grown considerably,

into the valve building,

that had many pumps, both full size,

like this Rushton and Hornsby,

to miniatures like these scratch built models,

I remember this A frame engine well, but much bigger as two of these powered the Woolwich paddle steamer ferry back in the 1950s, I used to watch them with fascination every time we crossed the Thames, this one made by Duncan Stewart & Co from Glasgow in the early 1900s,

during our visit staff started getting some of the engines going, like this Worthington,

so many to look at,

all steam powered,

there was also a display of cavity pumps,

with signage of how they worked,

the facility is run by volunteers and subscriptions, so there are stalls selling items like these books, to help raise funds,

a quarter casting of a 19 foot diameter flywheel,the ones used on the engines here are considerably larger,

now a choice,

do we take the Sunbeam or the Wolseley?

we lastly stopped at the Rang Railway,

which was being repaired,

and brought back to life in the railway workshop,

and this is the carriage that will bring visitors from the car park in the future,

we arrived back home to watch some television,

and then we were out for our Sunday meal,

in the evening,

we had a table booked,

at the Toby Carvery in Eden Park,

we were a tad early, so a sherry in the bar,

in no time at all we were at the food counter,

plenty of vegetables,

to choose from,

but vegetables were not for me,I had read that one of my favorite desserts was on offer, a knickerbocker glory, what childhood memories that brought back, so I did not want to stuff myself with vegetables when a knickerbocker was on the menu,