•The Trust's Christmas steaming rounded off a good year with visitor numbers exceeding 4000 for the year. Here are a couple historic vehicles that visited. Photo-1 Photo-2
•A collection of documents relating to the sewerage system in Burton has been transferred to the Claymills Archive. The documents were handed over to the Trust by Cllr. Robert Hardwick. The occasion was also reported in the Burton Mail.
•The governor drive shaft from B engine is shown here in the long bed lathe. The shaft was "gas axed" when the governor was removed. An adaptor is being made to reattach the bevel gear to the end of the shaft.
•The Trust has received a grant of £7,500 towards the restoration of Boiler No. 5 from the Consolidated Charity of Burton upon Trent.
•The problems with the cooling water on C & D engines have been solved and the new pipework has been installed.
•The Saturday of this year's October steaming became a Halloween event and the engines were run from 1.00pm to 9.00pm. Here are some pictures. Photo-1 Photo-2 Photo-3 Photo-4
•Problems with the cooling water on C & D engines have resulted in the latest "Big Dig". A shorter return route to the culvert is being constructed.
•The boiler crew have been hard at work cleaning boiler 4 in preparation for the inspection and steam test. The boiler was passed in time for the August bank holiday steaming.
•The mahogany cladding on D engine is progressing well with nearly three quarters of the wood fitted to the HP cylinder.
•Here are some photos from the August bank holiday steaming. Photo-1 Photo-2 Photo-3 Photo-4
•The Trust held its AGM on the 21st of the month. Before the business of the meeting, Paige Addenbrooke gave a presentation on Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The presentation had been a school project and she presented it again for the assembled members of the Trust.
After the business, blacksmith Hayley Powell presented the Trust with a sculpture of a cat. The pumping station used to have a resident cat who slept on a patch of ground that was kept warm by an underground steam pipe.
The meeting was rounded off by a fascinating talk by Alan Partington on William John Stephenson-Peach and the Repton engineering acadamy that he established. Amongst the products that students built were steam powered mowing machines, cars and the barring engines which are still in use in the engines houses.
•The station was decorated in many areas for the Jubilee steaming. Here are some of the photos. Photo-1 Photo-2 Photo-3 Photo-4
•At the East Staffordshire Community and Voluntary Service Star Awards, Claymills volunteer Luke Stephens has been awarded Young Volunteer of the Year.
•This month has been busy preparing the site for two steaming events (May Day and the Jubilee Weekend).
•Work has commenced on cleaning various parts of 'B' engine. Here is one of the parallel motion links being skimmed in the long bed lathe.
•Repairs have been made to the stoker gear on boiler 4. Worn parts have been replaced and the mechanism was tested before the Easter steaming.
•D engine received a polishing session between New Year and Easter. Here is the view from the top of the scaffolding.
During the accident to D engine in 1922, a girder supporting the beam floor was damaged. This picture shows the reinforcing brackets that were fitted. The record book simply stated "D engine broke down at 2:45pm".
•More mahogany cladding for D engine is now being fitted. The wood has been treated over several months and the first stage was to clad the top half of the exhaust steam pipe.
•A double headed steam train is unusual to see at Claymills. Here are LNER A4 4464 Bittern and K4 61994 The Great Marquess.
• The new one-piece piston & rod for the steam hammer has arrived in the workshop. Our engineers are now busy fitting it.
• Our publicity team were recently at a leaflet swap at the National Forest Adventure Farm. Photo-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
• Claymills is featured in a new video production. Follow this link for the preview.
• Following her major overhaul, 46233 Duchess of Sutherland is back on the main line again.
• When it snowed this month, the wind was blowing such that the snow came into the boiler house through the roof vents. Here is a picture of the top of boiler 1.
• Thieves have struck again. This time it was our flat bed trailer which has gone missing.
• A visit from the Vintage Sports Car Club on New Year's day contributed to a very successful start to the year. The yard was crammed full of wonderful cars. Photo-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
• The repairs to the condenser pipework proved to be successful and both C & D engines ran on the new pipework.
• A visit from 64 children from All Saints', Rangemoor was arranged two days after the steaming.
"What a fabulous day out - who would have thought visiting a sewage pumping station could be so interesting?"
"We sat down to a staff meeting, but had time for a quick discussion about how much we enjoyed our visit - one of the best for hands on experience and it will certainly fit well with the rest of my topic this term."
"Thanks from all of us, to you and all your wonderful volunteers for their enthusiasm and knowledge, they made the visit truly memorable - in lots of ways! We wouldn't have changed a thing."
"Hope to see you again in the future."
© Claymills Pumping Engines Trust
Meadow Lane
Stretton
Burton upon Trent, DE13 0DA
Registered Charity No. 1030331
Accredited Museum No. 2334
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