Claymills Pumping Station Run

The Claymills Pumping Station run started from the car park of the Royal Redgate public house at the junction of the A444 and A5. I wasn't sure how many bikes would turn out for the run as we are a month into autumn and moving towards winter the chance of getting good weather becomes more of a gamble. The weather played an ace as Sunday morning was fresh and bright as I set out nice and early for The Redgate. I was pleased to find that Chris C had just arrived on his Rapide and more bikes followed in the next few minutes and by the allotted departure time we had thirteen people on eleven bikes including two Vincent Comet's and five Vincent twins.

The convoy left the car park and headed along the A444 for just three miles before turning left in Sibson to take a more rural route through the villages of Sheepy Magna, Orton on the Hill, No Man's Heath, Rosliston and Walton on Trent where we waited at the traffic light before crossing the river on the single lane bridge. The original toll bridge was built in 1834 but was flood damaged in 1947. In 1948 REME built a "temporary" Bailey bridge that was replaced in 1974. Safely across the bridge we swiftly by-passed Burton on Trent by riding six miles on the dual-carriageway A38. Turning off the A38 we had less than a mile to our destination.
On arriving at the pumping station we went straight into the yard and parked in front of the engine house at the side of the tall boiler chimney. Martin had gone straight to the pumping station so that was yet another Vincent twin in the line of bikes. Don and Marion and John and Judith had travelled by car so we had quite a group. As we removed our helmets a lady visitor came to talk to us. She was almost in tears at the site of the Vincent's. She told us that she and her husband had happy memories of using a '48 twin with a side-car as family transport 50 years ago. The husband remembered that the bike had Brampton forks and he thought the side-car was a Busmar.

We had a quick refreshment stop in the café and then we were very fortunate that my contact at the site, Roy Barratt, was available to give us a guided tour. We moved around the many exhibits and Roy was able to give us some interesting details about the history and use of the equipment. As it was an "in steam day" there were steam engines everywhere and the whole place was alive with moving machinery. The machine shop was fascinating with a steam engine in one corner driving all the machines by a series of flapping flat belts. It was hard to get some of our engineering minded members to move on but there was a lot more to see. The station has it's own original electric generator, steam driven of course. We saw the carpenters shop before moving on to the boiler house where the Lancashire boilers provide the steam for all the various engines. There are four beam huge engines, two of which are in working order. Over the years, as the station was wound down, parts were used from two of the engines to keep the other two going. The working engines are a magnificent sight. The flywheels are 24 feet in diameter and weigh 24 tons each. The engines were run in pairs when they pumped 5.5 million gallons a day. The last place we visited was right down in the bowels of the building where we found a small room with bathing facilities. This must have been a real luxury at the end of a grimy working day shovelling coal for the boilers or removing ash and it gave a hint that at least some Victorians were starting to think about the welfare of their workers.

I can recommend this place for a visit as there is lots to see especially if you are interested in our industrial heritage. The volunteers involved are really enthusiastic and dedicated. (Some might say they are as mad about their pumping station as we are about our bikes!) They deserve all the support they can get. More details, opening times, dates of "in steam days," etc can be found at: http://www.claymills.org.uk/index.html

We thanked our excellent guide and then returned to the road with twelve of the party travelling to The Odd House near Snarestone where we enjoyed a sociable carvery lunch.

I said earlier that the weather can be a bit of a gamble at this time of year. I think that we were dealt an extremely good hand for our Claymills day with good weather, good attendance and an interesting venue. I hope that everyone enjoyed the day as much as Gloria and I did. Eddy

generator room

The smiling Crompton DC Dynamo operator oversees his equipment. There was an ominous sign just out of shot on the wall. It read: IMPORTANT NOTICE, If anyone receives an electric shock from the D.C. supply, stop the generators before removing the body.


The steam engine in the machine shop used to drive the lathes, shaper and drilling machines.		Above is a shot of some of the valve gear in the working engine house.