West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I've seen a picture of the still intact base of the water tower and there was clearly evidence some sort of mechanism that had been removed.

Steve - there is a reference to an original drawing on a (now redundant?) page of your excellent web site.

 

I note that the plan for the Dunster by Candlelight trains not to stop at Dunster has now been changed. Details on Steve Edge's site.

 

This one, Mike? http://www.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?h=Snapshot&p=2010/11/141110_4_ado

Steve

 

I cannot post an image here but it would look as ridiculous as the one on the Swindon Town FC badge...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=s...7r8vvuLyQIVga0UCh1tSgJv#imgrc=m7z3ifJcIZq-8M:

Those of us who understand such things kicked off with the club then it was proposed but to no avail.

 

Ah - chocolate teapot comes to mind. I was hoping for something a little more detailed.

 

I've never paid much attention to loco watering arrangements. I suppose I've thought that tanks & columns were generally re-filled by pressure from the local mains (a pumping station at the water works some distance away, perhaps) or by gravity from a local uphill stream or pond.
What might have been the power source if a local pump were needed? An electric pump, presumably?
I do know that the water needs to be soft (& treated?) in deference to some locos tender behinds.

 

Don't forget of course that there wasn't a 'mains' water supply in many rural areas until recently & in some places they are still dependant on private supplies.

As far as I understand the survival of Crofton Pumping Station was due to the GWR drawing the loco water supply at Devises from the Kennet & Avon Canal, so they needed to keep the water in the canal.

In so far as I have any boiler knowledge most of it is about marine installations and the idea of taking water from a canal gives me an attack of the screaming heeby geebies but some loco water supplies seem rather strange with fish ending up in tenders

 

That's the bit I'm wondering. It was stated upthread that there was a sump, fed from the local stream, so that implies the water had to be pumped into the tank (not coming from an upstream head by gravity etc). Electricity would have been obvious from probably the 1930s/40s onwards, but I still don't know what the motive power was before that. There is no obvious infrastructure for a fixed boiler to supply a steam pump (and that would seem expensive anyway at a wayside station with a relatively low demand for water). So if anyone knows what the original arrangements were,I'd be interested to know!

Tom

 

A hydraulic ram is a possibility if the water supply is suitable. Such was used on the Vale of Rheidol.

Paul H

 

Fascinating points raised in the thread. I am fairly certain that water was taken from the Monksilver Stream. I'm sure I've read that somewhere. I'm not sure that softening was understood that much in the 19th Century. Even today water treatment is added to the loco or tender tank not to the water in the water towers.

 

Water treatment is added to loco tanks or tenders, but may also be dosed into a water tower. At the KESR Rolvenden has a reverse osmosis plant to provide "super clean" water into the tank, but loco tanks are dosed as well according to readings from samples taken from boilers. I think there is raw "town main" water at Tenterden. Not sure whether Northiam is raw supply or not.

Agreed that in the past treatment was less exact and tended to be into loco tanks rather than towers. I think that there was a variety of water quality according to the variety of watering points. Shed staff were best able to dose locos according to what each individual loco had received out on the road, but it was a lot more crude than what is possible today, especially with locos nowadays often confined to one line and therefore to a known sample of water supply points.

 

In general water in the Exmoor area is soft, but would probably contain a lot of dissolved oxygen. Hard water comes from limestone areas. I think the mains water in the Minehead area is now treated, but when I was young visiting my Great Aunt, the tap water was very soft, but horrible to drink.

Rob

 

Of course the S&D used a lot of bath water, ready treated with baby shampoo. I presume.
I'll bet their locos smelled nice.

 

Right - a bit more info has come my way. There was indeed a sump fed from the nearby stream under the Wiliton water tower. The sump is still there apparently covered over with wooden planks. Glad my memory had not played tricks. It's been speculated that the pump was probably powered by a Stirling engine. Again my eyes did not deceive me, the base for the pump is actually still there under the shed that occupies the site.

 

Thanks @aldfort - that makes a lot of sense. The advantage of such an engine relative to a steam engine is that it can be used economically when there is low or erratic demand (i.e. topping up as and when needed) and can be managed by someone without specific skills in boiler management (I'd imagine it would be another duty for a porter to run the pump as required).

Tom

 

Happy to display my ignorance by asking what would a 'Stirling Engine' be?

Robin

 

A reasonable description here. I've seen models of such engines before but never full sized one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

 

It's a kind of external-combustion engine that uses a heat source (i.e. a fire) to heat air which then drives a piston and produce work. The advantage is that, unlike a steam engine, there is no boiler or high pressure vessel, so requires limited supervision and can be used intermittently. They were commercially available, linked to water pumps (amongst other things) in the nineteenth century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine#/media/File:Ericsson_hot_air_engine.jpg

Edited to add: the inventor (Robert Stirling) was the father of the 19th Century Locomotive Engineers Patrick and James Stirling. See http://www.steamindex.com/people/stirling.htm

Tom

 

Thanks.

Now, another question for the cognoscenti...

I don't recall seeing a photo of a loco watering at Williton, so were the columns only for occasional use?

Where would water normally be taken on a Taunton - Minehead round trip ?

Robin

 

I can only say what I know from 21st century experience. If you leave BL with a large or a small Prairie with a full load you can't safely complete the 40 mile round trip. So I'd suspect a small Prairie would look to take water at Williton on the down trip. I've always imagined this was why the water crane was in the 6 foot, they could then top up agan during the run around at MD. The other point that comes to mind is were all trains through to MD back in the day? Or maybe it was for loco's that got held in one of the loops for a long time?