Abbey Pumping Station

Abbey Pumping Station buildings viewed from the Southwest

The Abbey Pumping Station is an industrial museum in Leicester, England, on Corporation Road, next to the National Space Centre.

History

The museum was previously a pumping station used to pump sewage to treatment works at Beaumont Leys, and was opened in 1891. The grand Victorian building, designed by Stockdale Harrison (city architect in 1890) and beautifully decorated beam engines were a cause of great civic pride. It continued pumping Leicester's sewage until 1964, and then underwent renovation. It opened as a museum in 1972. It is one of a number of historic pumping stations which have been preserved.

Displays

The steam engines (see below) which drive the sewage pumps can be seen. In addition, there is combination of informative educational displays (mainly about water and sewage), an old-fashioned film theatre, and collections of artifacts and pictures ranging from domestic appliances to trams. An eclectic collection of larger items of industrial archeology is in the grounds. This includes a narrow gauge railway and some transport items.

Beam engines

Cylinder heads in late 2011

The four steam engines were built in Leicester by Gimson and Company and today are rare examples of Woolf compound rotative beam engines. At the time these engines were built they were considered an old-fashioned but very well-practised design, as many engine designers had turned their attention to horizontal and early vertical designs instead.

These engines are rated at 200 hp, at 12–19 rpm, of which they pumped 208,000 imperial gallons of sewage an hour (263 L/s).

All four engines have been restored back to working condition by a dedicated team of volunteers: the Leicester Museums Technology Association. It is the only engine house in the world where you can see four working examples of the same beam engine in one building.

Current projects in the engine house are the on-going maintenance of the latest restored engine, No.1 (restored over a period of 4 years by the volunteers).

Museum

The Pumping Station is normally open Daily from 11am - 4:30pm. Engines can be seen in steam at various steam days along with other steam and early internal combustion exhibits.

Transport collection

The Museum has a narrow gauge railway which is normally operated by an 0-4-0ST 2-foot gauge locomotive Leonard, built by W.G. Bagnall, Stafford as works number 2087 in 1918, but four diesel locomotives – three Simplex and one Ruston – are also available if needed.

There is also a collection of vintage road vehicles which are operated on selected days. Exhibits include: fire engines, buses (see below), an 1894 Aveling and Porter steam roller, three diesel rollers, a Bedford fish and chips van and an Austin K2 brewery dray lorry with ales.

Buses

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abbey Pumping Station.

Coordinates: 52°39′18″N 1°7′50″W / 52.65500°N 1.13056°W