News and Current Projects

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February 2010

• The painting of the walls in CD is progressing. Here are two views of D engine. Photo1 Photo2

• Reconstructing the wheels for the pipe drug is continuing. This picture shows the new spokes fitted to the hub.

January 2010

• Our new year steaming was a very successful weekend, despite the rain on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was a glorious day with plenty of visitors braving the elements. Running the outside engines in the cold weather produced this very atmospheric picture.

• The Claymills beam engines have been chosen as one of Staffordshire's 10 objects for the BBC's "A History of the World" project. There will be a broadcast from the Potteries Museum, Stoke on 18^th February.

December 2009

Lots of activity to report on this month....

• Two decorating projects in CD engine house have made significant progress this month:

• Representatives from English Heritage have now agreed that the Trust can repaint the dado walls.
  Paint samples that were taken from the walls showed that the last layer of paint was a "dark cream" colour. A sample of wood taken from the bathroom revealed a dark cream colour that has never been exposed to daylight and is therefore the best sample which will not have faded. The sample was colour matched and a trial area was painted. This photo shows the walls behind D flywheel in undercoat.
• Our unique bathroom has been completely repainted. Photo1 Photo2 This area can only be visited on our "off-limits" tour and visitors must be accompanied by a guide. The bathroom was used by boiler cleaning crews after they had cleaned out the boiler flues. A gang of 3 men washed each others backs!! There also used to be a row of 4 cottages adjacent to the pumping station and only one cottage (the site foremans') had a bathroom, so we presume that the occupants of the other 3 also made use of the engine house bathroom.

• The hubs for the pipe drug are being turned on the long bed lathe as this is the only lathe that can turn work of this diameter. This picture shows an original on the left and the part machined new one on the right.

• The Trust has received grants to recover the missing handrails from AB engine house. The stanchions and railings were removed from AB and used in a building within the modern sewage treatment works next door. The Trust agreed with Severn Trent that the railings could be returned, provided that suitable replacements were installed to ensure the safety of ST's employees. The originals have now been recovered and work has commenced to remove the blue and white paint that had been applied.

• A new stand pipe has been installed on Boiler 4 which incorporates a tee into the 2" pipework system. This makes it much easier for the boiler crew during the warming up phase of bringing the site into steam. Boiler 5 had a 2" feed connected directly onto the boiler shell which was already installed when the Trust came on-site. When Boiler 4 replaced 5 as the working boiler, the facility was sorely missed, so rather than cutting a hole in the boiler shell, a new stand pipe was manufactured and hydraulic tested by Alton Engineering prior to installation and steam testing.

November 2009

• One of the ploughing engines that used to work on the sewage farm recently came up for sale. This is the engine that visited the site for the 15th anniversary in 2008. The owner gave the Trust an opportunity to purchase the engine, but we were unable to raise sufficient funds for a deposit and so it went to auction, where it was sold for £139,000 plus 5% buyers' premium.

October 2009

• The Trust is proud of its involvement with educating the younger generations - William Shrewsbury Primary School brought 85 students to learn about the Victorians. This year the station was in steam and they saw most of the engines actually running.
Others come to help and get mucky too!!

• The Trust was also visited by the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club and the yard was once again full of wonderful cars.

September 2009

• The Heritage Open Days weekend was a great success this year. It was in part helped by Claymills being listed as the first of "Five Top Tips" in The Times on 10^th of September.

• Getting up early in the morning to raise steam for a steaming weekend sometimes has its rewards. The recent spell of good weather provided a photographic opportunity that could not be missed.

• This news page has featured several cars & trains recently, so for a change, here's a motorbike.

August 2009

• The pipe drug is being reassembled now. In the foreground is the fore carriage (painted in undercoat) and in the background, it can be seen that the rear axle has also been reattached to the main chassis framework.

• The Rapidor machine hacksaw has been finish painted. After the addition of the belt guard, it will be ready for installation.

July 2009

• The cleaning of the entablature in CD engine house is progressing well, with two thirds of the sides complete.

• Make sure your saws are sharp.... This is the seasoned oak for the wheel hubs of the pipe drug being sawn into pieces ready for turning.

• Claymills in bloom. Despite our weather this summer, our gardeners have produced a great display near the site entrance.

News Archive

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003

Current Projects

The Railway Wagon

The Joiner's Shop

If any volunteers or visitors have any pictures that they wish to be added to our news page, please email them to webmaster@claymills.org.uk.

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