3072 x 2048 px | 26 x 17,3 cm | 10,2 x 6,8 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
4 juin 2005
Lieu:
Thames Path, Crossness, Thamesmead East, SE2 9AQ
Informations supplémentaires:
The pumping station became a Grade I listed building[8] in 1970 and will remain on the Heritage at Risk Register until the restoration is completed.[9] The Crossness Engines Trust, a registered charity, was formed in 1987 to oversee the restoration project[10] which was due to be completed in 2013. When the pumping station was decommissioned in the 1950s, it was not considered economic to dismantle the engines, as the cost of doing so far exceeded any scrap value. The more valuable metal items (made from brass), such as the engine oilers, much pipework, and even the handrails from the stairs, were removed. The remaining building and engines were left to suffer considerable vandalism and decay. As Prince Consort was the last steam engine decommissioned, in 1953, it is this engine on which the restoration activity has been concentrated. After some fifteen years of effort the engine is now working again and is run on the open days organised by the Trust. When the buildings were abandoned, the pumps and culverts and all the subterranean areas below the Beam Engine House were filled with sand to reduce the risks from methane. This has meant that some 100 tons of this sand has had to be excavated from around and underneath the pumps before there was any hope of moving the beam and flywheel. Further, there was a considerable ingress of rain water which resulted in serious rusting of the engine parts. The station contains the four original pumping engines, which are thought to be the largest remaining rotative beam engines in the world, with 52-ton flywheels and 47-ton beams. Although the engines are original, they are not in their original 1864 configuration, as all four were converted from single-cylinder to triple-expansion operation in 1901 and 1902. Prince Consort was returned to steam in 2003 and now runs on Trust Open Days. The other engines are not in working order, although work has begun on the restoration of Victoria. The original boilers did not survive and
