Lake Farm Pumping Station
Going back to summer for this one, me and Dan on one of our usual trips. One pin to check out was Lake Farm Pumping station. Dan managed to find this on early 1900s OS Maps.
Not much history, as with most of these pumps. It is situated on the banks of the Old Bedford River, and assisted with draining of a thin piece of farmland which lies amidst water courses. The Old Bedford River above, the New Bedford River below, the Great Ouse and River Delph at each end, so I can imagine this little pump had to work hard to keep the land drained. A public footpath runs parallel to the Old Bedford River directly down to the station. The path was uneven and the dead straight, we could see the station for the entire walk, and it never seemed to get any closer. Then, halfway down, the rain set in. The walk felt like it took hours but in reality, was probably around 30 minutes.
Moving inside the station, a Blackstone diesel engine remains. It ran a centrifugal pump via a belt. There are also a few chart recorders and an electric control panel at one end which seemed strange. The building did still have power as we turned on the lights to aid with photographs. It was very difficult to get shots in here due to the lighting. With the lights off, it was too dark and the contrast of the window at the other end washed the photographs out, with the light on, the photographs were seriously orange. Managed to scrape together some decent shots with the help of lots of editing to get the colours looking normal-ish. Not my proudest set but good enough...
A birds eye view of the pump and gate valve
Close up shots of the gate valve
The water outlet into the Old Bedford River
Going back to summer for this one, me and Dan on one of our usual trips. One pin to check out was Lake Farm Pumping station. Dan managed to find this on early 1900s OS Maps.
Not much history, as with most of these pumps. It is situated on the banks of the Old Bedford River, and assisted with draining of a thin piece of farmland which lies amidst water courses. The Old Bedford River above, the New Bedford River below, the Great Ouse and River Delph at each end, so I can imagine this little pump had to work hard to keep the land drained. A public footpath runs parallel to the Old Bedford River directly down to the station. The path was uneven and the dead straight, we could see the station for the entire walk, and it never seemed to get any closer. Then, halfway down, the rain set in. The walk felt like it took hours but in reality, was probably around 30 minutes.
Moving inside the station, a Blackstone diesel engine remains. It ran a centrifugal pump via a belt. There are also a few chart recorders and an electric control panel at one end which seemed strange. The building did still have power as we turned on the lights to aid with photographs. It was very difficult to get shots in here due to the lighting. With the lights off, it was too dark and the contrast of the window at the other end washed the photographs out, with the light on, the photographs were seriously orange. Managed to scrape together some decent shots with the help of lots of editing to get the colours looking normal-ish. Not my proudest set but good enough...
A birds eye view of the pump and gate valve
Close up shots of the gate valve
The water outlet into the Old Bedford River
