A bit quiet on the news front over the past month, but things have been ticking over in the background.

A start has been made on the supporting buttress for the wall of the engine room. This was needed as over the past 150 years the roof of the engine house (the bit above the Wills engine) has been pushing against the outside wall between the chimney and the Lancashire boiler causing it to bow outwards. A surveyor gave it a looking-over and recommended that a buttress was built against the outside of the wall to prevent any more movement, either that or take it all down and rebuild it! Nigel and Bill have been at work with hole-digging implements and quantities of concrete and a steel girder has been put in place against the wall to take the strain. This will then be clad with brickwork to match in with the existing wall.

Outside on the railway, Bill has been busy making more wood wagons to carry timber to the boiler, all the more important now the latest delivery of a couple of artic-loads has left us with the Great Wooden Wall of Westonzoyland alongside the drive! Harold has turned out some more trestles to support the incline for the wagon on the Hemyock winch and a new access gate and fencing has appeared between the railway and the rhyne at the bottom of the carpark, which should direct visitors towards the main entrance instead of their coming in the 'back door'.

A start has been made on tidying up around the station: there are a lot of corners and places housing stuff once deemed to be 'useful' but now surplus to requirements or actually of no use whatsoever. With space for storing stuff at a premium any more storage is welcome: so far, the wooden shed is being worked through and large amounts of rubbish, dead gas cylinders and rusting bits of metal sent on their way for recycling. The traverser shed will be next and finally the cellar where a lot of the materials stored there are of no possible use but taking up valuable space. Christine and Adrian would like to get on with the clearing out and restoration of the cottage but this requires the bits for the Ruston diesel to be moved out of the way.

Finally, another solution is being sought for the 'custard' problem! This is the trouble with some of the enclosed engines such as the Easton Johnson and the Bellis where the oil turns into what looks like pale custard due to water getting into the sump (or possibly air being whipped in to the oil by the gear pump in one case). Various ideas have been tried to separate the oil from the water, including boiling it and leaving it to stand for long periods without much success. The latest contraption apparently consists of a modified milk churn with attachments, and we await the results with interest!

Andy

Previous news for 2009 is available for reading via the Archive section in the navigation bar, left.

All newspages for 2008, including December's issue, can be downloaded (zipfile)here. Note that August's news got lost!

All newspages for 2007 can be downloaded (zipfile)here

Official Location Address: Westonzoyland Pumping Station, Hoopers Lane, Westonzoyland, nr. Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 0LS (Please do NOT send letters to this address, there is no letterbox!).
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