News
With Easter being so early a whole month has now gone by without the Station being In Steam. But as I write this, preparations are well in hand for a busy May, what with the two 'In Steam' Bank Holiday week ends (May 3-4-5 and May 24-25-26 ...
put them in your diary etc. etc.
) and the extra Steaming Day on May 10th (more of this later), its going to be a busy time for the Crofton volunteers.
The month has not been wasted however, and we have been busying ourselves with numerous chores about the place, tidying up some of the paint work, sorting out the numerous minor problems that came to light during the Easter Steaming, and some more serious work in the No.1 Condenser Tank. The latter came about in the following way... Normally overnight between Steaming Days the Feeder Basin under the Discharge Launders remains full of water. But during our steaming trials earlier in the year, and also at Easter, this was not the case and each morning, all of the water had 'vanished'. We became quite concerned about this, as there is a lot of water in there and we needed to know where it was going. Our major concern was that a leak may have developed in the brickwork of the feeder basin. This brickwork is not, shall we say, in the best of condition, and at some time in the near future there will need to be some major work to refurbish it, but this will be a big job and not something that we would wish to contemplate during a busy Summer Steaming Season. So you can see why we were worried about our 'leak'. Anyway, we carried out a thorough inspection of this brickwork, and to our considerable relief, although there were some small areas of pointing that needed replacing, we found nothing that could account for the overnight loss of such a large amount of water. So where could it have gone? Much discussion followed (with, being Crofton, much consumption of Tea!!) whilst various theories were aired ... ranged from the usual highly intelligent stuff (big thirsty bird decends on Crofton overnight, the fishes have drunk it, etc., etc.) to the more reasonable options of either a leak in one of the two the drain valves, or a leak in the No.1 Circulating Pump discharge valve, allowing the water to run back through the Pump into the Condenser Tank and down into the Well via the Overflow Pipe. The drain valves were checked and found to be OK so the main suspect was the Circulating Pump Discharge Valve. This is an 'old friend' of ours, having been suspected of faulty operation before. To get at it, the Tank had to be drained, and once this was done the valve inspection cover was removed and sure enough it was found that the valve had a tendency to stick open. It's a bronze flap valve some 14 inches (35 cm) wide by 9 inches (22cm) deep, and the pivot spindle and its bearings are badly worn. We have been aware of the situation for some time, the bearings need to be bushed, a new spindle made and the whole thing line bored, but we have been putting this off because of the cramped access conditions. The wear had now become so bad that the flap was catching on the bottom of the valve chamber. As a temporary fix the bearings have been shimmed, but this coming Winter we are going to have to 'bite the bullet' and do the job properly. The May Day Bank Holiday Steamings will reveal if the shimming job has dealt with the problem.
So what's all this about an extra Steaming day? Well, Crofton's owners, The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, are holding their Annual General Meeting at Crofton on Saturday May 10th, and we are going run the Station In Steam for the event. If you are a Trust member, then as usual provided that you present your membership card, you will get in to see the engines for free. If you are not a member then you could still get in for free if you purchase an 'instant membership pack' in our Shop, alternatively I'm afraid you will have to pay our normal Steaming entrance fee. The AGM will be held in a marquee on our front lawn. Although only Trust Members will be allowed into the AGM, the rest of the Station including the Cafe and Shop, will be open to the general public as normal.
Finally before I go ... I have little interesting anecdote for you. In 1896 the No.1 Engine suffered a major mechanical failure, and, with the No.2 Engine having been derelict for several years, it became impossible to maintain a proper water level the Canal. In order to get around this whilst the No.1 Engine was repaired, a railway locomotive was installed at Crofton with it's driving wheels coupled via a belt to a pump. We have known about this for some time, but it was only late last year that actual drawings of the installation came to light. These drawings reveal the number of the locomotive that was used and subsequent research has turned up a photograph of it (although not unfortunately, installed at Crofton) and you can clearly see a flange attached to the center driving wheel that would have been coupled to the pump pully drive shaft. Copies of the drawings, and a photo of the loco, are now on display in the Boiler House at Crofton and they make fascinating viewing.
Got to go now, 'her indoors' wants me to take her shopping, but keep an eye on this website, there are several other events planned this year culminating, with our 'End of Season Steam Gala' in September and you wouldn't want to miss anything would you??.
See You Soon!
WebMaster