Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - The Pumping Engine House . . .

With the demise of the Taff Vale Railway and its absorption into the Great Western Railway from January 1922, the engineering design and project management expertise at Cardiff was devolved and the Engineering Department at Swindon became the hub for all large engineering projects at the Welsh docks. Remember that the GWR was now the largest dock owner in the world by these natural acquisitions.

Secondly, the pumping station which was constructed to top up the water level of the tidal Penarth Dock which was situated adjacent to the gatehouse of the Penarth Pontoon and Slipway Company and was still in place in the mid 1960's when I served my apprenticeship there. It had aging boilers installed during 1890. The boilers powered the steam engines to drive the two 6 feet diameter centrifugal pumps to extract water from the river Ely into the dock. I have estimated that the stated 2,000,000 gallons per hour combined capacity of these pumps would effect just under 4" (10 cm) water rise in the main dock of 23 acres area per hour.

A search of the National Archives revealed the general arrangement drawing for the boiler room and plant for a proposed update in August 1924. The GWR at this time were investing heavily in new efficient coal handling plant at Penarth even although the peak of export had passed over a decade earlier. A general strike was also looming and labour unrest was widespread.

I'm working on the boiler house and pump room as a CAD model but need more information about the pumping equipment. So come back periodically to watch progress.