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A blast from the past for historic engines
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Thursday 10th Mar 2005.
HISTORY may be repeated at the canal pumping station at Crofton this summer when for the first time in decades coal needed to fire the two historic steam engines could be brought in by boat.
Volunteers running the historic site have been approached by a coal supplier who wants to bring the coal in by water, as it would have been done when the pumping station first opened in 1807.
Later on the coal was delivered by train when the canal fell into disuse by commercial boats in the early 20th century. Since the pumping station was restored and reopened in the early 1970s the coal has been brought by road.
It would have been brought in either from the South Wales pits crossing the Severn and travelling along the Avon to reach the K&A or it would have come up from the Somerset coalfields.
Ray Knowles, chairman of the Crofton Branch of the Kennet and Avon Canal trust said a barge could be used for the first time in living memory.
He said: "A guy has been in touch with us about bringing the coal in by narrow boat.
"We have told him that if he can do it at no more cost than we are presently paying by road then we will have it from him."
Mr Knowles said it experts believe a mechanical arrangement would have been used to bring the coal up to the pumping station from the canal bank 40 feet below.
The two historic steam engines at the Crofton Pumping Station which Prince Charles visited in May 2003 have had a trial run ready for re-opening to the public at Easter.
This summer both the engines, the 1812 Boulton and Watt and the 1846 Harvey, will be in steam every bank holiday weekend and also on the last weekends in June and July, from 10.30am to 5.30pm each day.
They open on Good Friday and the final steaming of 2005 is due to take place on the weekend of October 1 and 2.
Every year the engines get a trial steaming and that has taken place successfully said Mr Knowles.
Last year the 1812 engine could not be run because of a structural problem with a wooden beam over the Harvey engine.
Repairs have been carried out and the beam reinforced with steel so that both engines can be used this year, said Mr Knowles.
He said: "They have both been trialled and both are looking fine."
The Boulton and Watt engine is regarded as the oldest working engine in the world still in its original position and doing its original job.
The engines had to be installed at Crofton because it is at the summit of the Kennet and Avon Canal and pumps were needed to maintain water levels for boats.
Throughout the rest of the year when the engines are not steaming the water levels are maintained by huge electric pumps run by British Waterways.
The Crofton pumping station near Great Bedwyn was completely derelict when the Crofton Society now incorporated into the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust was formed in the 1960s.
While other volunteers slaved over the restoration of the canal, teams of willing helpers led by engineers slowly brought the two ancient engines back to life.
The canal still had a long way to go before its restoration was complete, when the pumping station was officially opened by the then Poet laureate Sir John Betjeman in August 1970.
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