Society Evening Outing:  Tuesday 5th July 2011, to the Westonzoyland Pumping Station/ Museum of Steam Power and Land Drainage.

Twenty members gathered at Westonzoyland Pumping Station, near Bridgwater, for our July 2011 evening outing.
The Museum was originally founded in 1977 to preserve the large Easton Drainage machine built in 1861 to the design of Charles Edwards Amos, with its tall Chimney forming a local landmark. The purpose of the machine was to drive a pump which helped to drain water from surrounding rhynes on the levels and pump it into the River Parrett which runs behind the pumping station but at a higher level. Over the years since then a number of other engines and pieces of machinery have been brought to the site and many restored to working order.
This is the only surviving pumping station still working in steam, and has all the buildings still standing. The Museum is now a Grade 2* listed site, owned by the Westonzoyland Engine Trust and run by a group of volunteers who helped save it from dereliction, achieving charitable status in 1980. Since then the Museum has added an exhibition hall and a metal framed engine shed to the original 1831 engine house. We were given a very warm welcome by Trust members who demonstrated and explained how the various machines and pumps worked.
We were lucky to see the Marshall portable boiler, dating from 1938, in use supplying steam, Its appearance gives away the fact that it is similar in design to most steam locomotive boilers, although this one runs on wood- eg old pallets- rather than coal. It was originally used as a standby steam generator in London, and was donated by the Kew Bridge Pumping Station museum and has been restored by the Trust, partly grant-aided, with new fire tubes having been fitted.
The two foot gauge railway was being demonstrated for our benefit by the Trusts volunteers. Although not original to the station it was constructed partly to help in moving heavy machinery around the site, and also now moves wood and old pallets from the car park wood store to the wood- burning engines. It also helps to demonstrate a typical installation used for maintenance by either river authorities or the former Somerset Peat works, where rail tracks would be laid to where the work was taking place and then removed elsewhere as required when the operating site itself moved. One of the two locos on site, a yellow and green Simplex loco, came from the Sever Trent water authority whilst the other, a Lister built at Dursley, came from former Eclipse/ Fisons peat works at Ashcott, near Glastonbury.

The weather was threatening for most of the evening, with lowering dark skies and occasional passing light showers, although on both the journey to and from the Pumping station from Weston we had run through some very heavy and prolonged periods of squally rain. We were lucky these kept away during our visit and during the showers members also enjoyed the pleasant surroundings of the Café and shop adjoining the Exhibition Hall.
All in all, we had a very interesting evening. Our thanks go to John Trenchard and his colleagues at the Trust for putting on a very interesting and enjoyable evening for us. The Trust hold occasional open days for the public when visitors can enjoy the resident machinery in action, plus occasionally visiting steam traction or vintage agricultural machinery as well. These are advertised on the Trust website.

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