the big steam test!

Today saw the steam test part of the annual boiler certificate. All was lit at about 11am and the boiler slowly raised to steam by about 1pm. Safety valves were adjusted until just lifting at 50psi as the pressure slowly crept upwards. After throwing lots of wood on and opening up the fire the pressure was increased to ensure the safety valves were set to keep up.

At 2.30pm the inspector arrived and had a look around, was happy that everything was good for another year so job done! And whilst we were at it rather than waste all that heat some spuds went in the firebox for our lunch!

Hope to see you on New Year's Day for the steam up where the West Huntspill Model Engineers will be running a steam loco on their 5" gauge portable railway being set up at the museum! Perfect for the kids and parents alike!

blocked pipe

This weekend saw the review of the wood burner in the tea room. Although the chimney never drew particularly well, it had got so bad it wasn't even worth lighting!

After removing the twin wall flue a visual inspection of the link pipe made out of 4" pipe, it was clear where the problem was. The pipe running horizontally had become completely blocked with soot and carbon deposits. After a good deal of scraping and cleaning out the fire was lit and an improvement seen immediately. Stainless flue put back and the fire was truly roaring!

Should be good to go for the New Year's Day steaming!

Flooding

Due to the recent rain the Somerset Levels has seen large scale flooding not seen in a few years. Although it is expected that certain moors flood during heavy rainfall and that alternative flood zones are available should they fill up, the speed in which these areas flooded was unprecedented. Even at the museum water levels in the Westonzoyland Engine Rhyne are abnormally high even with the 50 tonnes per minute Diesel engine running adjacent to our steam engine. A view below shows the 100 tonne per minute Appold centrifugal pump at the base of the Easton Amos steam drainage machine nearly under water, where this is usually dry.

facilities extension 'the film'

we dont just take still images! our resident film director Alan has made this little snapshot of the past few days work on the groundworks of the new extension... enjoy!

re-filling holes!

Two days spent digging holes for the new Facilities Extension was quickly reversed in 15 minutes by filling them back in with Concrete! On Tuesday a delivery of 6m3 of Gen3 Concrete was delivered by S.Morris of Taunton. Much to our delight the operator managed to make it wet enough for the majority of the concrete to flow around the whole length of the foundation with only about 4/5 barrow loads being needed to be moved by hand.

Metal levelling pegs were inserted in the bottom of the footing before pouring. The left over 0.3m3 was used to pour a base for the path from the level crossing. Due to the rain it was decided to spread this out to allow for a top finish of paving slabs at some point rather than battle to tamp it smooth and level.

another hole!

Whilst the digger was on site this weekend Graham one of our newer members made sure we dug him a hole to build a tank for the deep well pump he has been steadily restoring. Ok its not exactly a perfect straight sided hole but better to get this far with a digger and then finish by hand than to dig the whole thing by hand!

Facilities Extension...The Grand Start!

After 4-5 years of discussions of one sort or another, a successful planning application and a building control submission later we have started building work on the Facilities Extension at the museum! The extension is about 50m2 and will house public toilets including disabled, volunteer toilets and shower room, extension to the Tea Room and a Mess Room for volunteers.

One mini digger later hired from Yeovil Hire Centre for a very reasonable rate and a dumper truck borrowed from a nearby developer the over site and footings were completed this weekend! On Tuesday we will be pouring a Gen3 concrete mix for the foundations amounting to about 6m3 being supplied by S.Morris for another great rate. Watch this space, things should really take off now!