More about engines on the BCN Old Line

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 09:00

The Smethwick Engines

The Boulton and Watt steam engine in the Old Smethwick Pumping Station at the end of the Engine Arm was replaced in 1892 by a newer engine and Pumphouse at Brasshouse Bridge on the Old Main Line. The old engine could pump about 160 lockfulls which works out at about 250 narrowboats per week! It is now at the Science Museum thinktank, at Millennium Point.

Plaque on Bridge Street, Smethwick (source: Oosoom at en.wikipedia - GFDL) 

The new Pumping House was sited between Brindley's Old Line and Telford's New Birmingham Main Line, after Brasshouse Bridge

Two Lancashire boilers replaced the Old Boulton and Watt engine and they could pump 200 lockfulls, allowing more narrowboats to ascend the locks without affecting the water levels. The new Station continued pumping until 1905; one engine was relocated to the Walsall canal and the other continued working until 1920.

"New" Smethwick Pumping Station (designed by BCN Engineer GR Jebb)

In 1940 a diesel submarine engine and pump was installed to raise the water to the Wolverhampton Level should the canal be breached and also to supply water for fire-fighting. In 1978, the Pumping Station was designated a Grade ll listed building; restoration started in 1982 and was completed in 2000.

Epiphany moored outside the Pumping Station from Brasshouse Bridge