Crofton Pumping Station was originally built to raise water for the Kennet and Avon Canal. For well over 200 years it has carried out this work. For more than 100 years of its life Crofton was owned by the Great Western Railway. As well as the Crofton pumping water for the canal during this time, it also supplied water to GWR railway locomotives. The contract that GWR signed was to provide water to the K&A Canal “in perpetuity”. Indeed, if it were not for our relationship with GWR, Crofton would probably not have survived at all. To celebrate this long relationship with the railways, Crofton’s mighty Beam Engines will be in steam on the Anniversary weekend of the 27th and 28th of September.
Zur Feier des 200. Jubiläums der Eisenbahngesellschaft und unseres kleinen Beitrags zur Eisenbahngeschichte veranstalten wir in Crofton eine Ausstellung rund um GWR. Sie umfasst GWR-Artefakte, Bilder und eine Chronik unserer Verbindung zur Eisenbahn. Erhalten Sie einen Einblick in unsere Beziehung zur Eisenbahnwerkstatt in Swindon und erfahren Sie, wie Crofton Lehrlingen eine kleine Pause verschaffte. Erfahren Sie, wie GWR Crofton sogar mit einer kleinen Satteltanklokomotive (wahrscheinlich einer Lokomotive namens Prince) versorgte, um die Pumpen am Laufen zu halten, wenn unsere Lokomotiven ausfielen. Unsere fachkundigen Freiwilligen demonstrieren einige der GWR-Geräte, die noch heute im Einsatz sind, während sie unsere Kessel befeuern und unsere Lokomotiven antreiben, damit Besucher die Kraft des Dampfes live erleben können.
Children’s activities will include a special trail guiding them round our station, seeking out our GWR tools, as well as a crafting area for children to be able use their imagination to describe, draw and even have a go at junk modelling a train.