Whitwood Sewage Pumping Station, Castleford
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Whitwood Sewage Pumping Station, Castleford by Chris Allen as part of the Geograph project.
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Whitwood Sewage Pumping Station, Castleford
Image: © Chris Allen Taken: 20 Feb 1982
This site is long since demolished and was derelict when seen. We were expecting a steam engine but found these motor driven reciprocating pumps. At first we accepted them on face value but after a while I got thinking a persuaded the others that they were converted from an original steam engine. I was able to come up with a conjectural layout and that was later confirmed by a contemporary engineering journal. We now know they were built as two singles that could be run individually or coupled. They were built by Joshua Horne of Providence Ironworks, Castleford in 1882. The steam cylinders had been 12.5" x 2' and the pump cylinders were 14" x 2'. The two flywheels were each 6' diameter. As rebuilt an induction motor drove by belt to a new shaft geared down to the crankshaft by herringbone gearing. So, what started as a damp squib actually became quite interesting.
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Image Location
Latitude
53.727799
Longitude
-1.361871