Spent a happy hour or so at Coleham Pumping Station, Longden Road, Shrewsbury, yesterday morning.
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and also
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"Coleham Pumping Station, resembling a Victorian Chapel in style, was built in 1900 to house two massive steam-driven beam engines. They were built in-situ by Renshaws of Stoke in 1897/1898. They were used to pump sewage as part of Shrewsbury's new sewerage system. These coal-fired pumps were used until 1970."It is well worth a visit and the next open days are 10 and 11 September. I think you'd be hard-pressed to spend a day there, but two hours wouldn't be at all difficult :-)
The high spot for me was watching two 2p coins, balanced on edge, riding up and down the four-foot stroke as they sat (without a tremor) on the cross-head of the LP piston-rod...
Regards
Pete