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The original steam powered pumping station is preserved and still operates on selected weekends; it contains one of the oldest operational Watt style beam engines in the world, dating from 1812.
When the canal was built, there were no reliable water sources available to fill the summit by normal gravitational means. However a set of usable springs were found adjacent to the canal route about one mile east of the summit pound, and about 40 feet below it. Arrangements were made for these springs to feed the pound below lock 60 at Crofton. Some years later a reservoir (Wilton Water) was created to enhance the supply to this pound, and this can now be seen across the canal from the pumping station.
Water from below lock 60 was taken by a culvert to the foot of a well sunk from the location of the pumping station, which is situated on the hillside more than 40 feet above the canal. The pumps then pump this water out of the well, and discharge it into a feeder channel adjacent to the pumping station. The water then flows along this channel under the force of gravity until it reaches the summit pound about one mile to the west.
For day to day operation, the pumping station now uses electric pumps, automatically controlled by the water level in the summit pound. However the original steam driven pumping equipment has been preserved and is still operational. A single Lancashire boiler provides steam to one or both of two beam engines.
Number 1 engine, built by Boulton and Watt in 1812, is a single acting, condensing engine with a bore of 42.25 inches, a stroke of 7 feet and indicated power of 38.6 horsepower or 28.8 kilowatts. It drives a 30 inch lift pump which is capable of lifting 2274lbs or approximately one ton of water per stroke, at a rate of 11 strokes per minute.
Number 2 engine, built by Harvey and Co. of Hayle in 1846Events January 5 The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom February 5 The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States. February 10 Many Mormons and rebuilt in 19031903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. Events January 1 Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India, is a single acting, condensing engine with a bore of 42 inches, a stroke of 7 feet 8 inches and indicated power of 42 horsepower or 31.3 kilowatts. It drives a 30 inch force pump which is capable of lifting 2235 pounds or approximately one ton of water per stroke, at a rate of 10.2 strokes per minute.
An interesting feature of the pumping station is that when the Great Western RailwayBristol Temple Meads railway station, the terminus at Bristol. The Great Western Railway (GWR was a British railway company, linking South West England, the West Country and South Wales with London. It was founded in 1833, kept its identity through the 19 built its railway line through the area, it passed very close to the station and between it and the canal. Access between the canal side and the pumping station is now via a very low roofed tunnel.