I work at crossness in 1971/72 , the beam house as was known then , was sadly very badly neglected, i am sure it would not still be there now if it was not so big it would have been scrapped and long gone, thankfully it was not, the boilers were not there when I was there and the chimney was gone, all very sad, on wet days we went into the beam house to sweep up rust, I visited on steaming day 2 years ago the first time in 47 years, there were no houses around the works then, you could see up to Plumpstead just fields then, our mess room toilets washrooms workshops were there then, where the teashop/cafeteria is now, congratulations to all those who involved them selves in its restoration it was so wonderful to see it in all its former glory, I only live long enough to see them all working, just up the road on the same site there is another pump house which is set down in ground, and has the most the most beautful 6 or 8 flat cylinder gas engines I cannot remember how many there were? I remember one two running they were absolutely stunning, the were huge electrical pumps, these were run also, these too should be preserved for prosperity and future generations, and opened to the public,
One has to stop and admire the genius and artistry of the Victorian engineers. This is a magnificent machine for the vital purpose of pumping sewage to improve the sanitary conditions and health of London's populace.
A century ago, sewage pumping stations were built more beautiful than churches would be nowadays! And the engine is fantastic! I've seen water pumping engines in London, but this machine takes the prize. Thanks!
What it was doing really did not matter, the engineers that built this where really only concerned with the quality of their workmanship. we see it as beautiful, but ho-hum in a mass produced age....many people, at this point, only saw an engine a few times in their lives, much less something on this scale. It's pride in work and engineering that is , sadly, lost for most people
With the construction of these pumping engines (and the associated plumbing) London became one of the first cities ever to have a proper sewerage system, and its construction was a hugely expensive and technologically advanced effort on the part of the British Government. It shouldn't be a surprise that there was quite a lot of pride put into the fittings of the system- they were technological marvels of their age.
@@phoenixrising4573 Without these engines a lot more of people would've died of cholera due to lack of sewage. It makes sense that engineers would make these machines houses of opulence, their creations were the solutions to a big problem.
There is something majestic about these external combustion engines that you can walk into and around. The gigantic walking beams and slowly spinning flywheels have visceral presence. Glad they were too big to destroy and that since they were there someone decided they should live on. Thanks for sharing.
Possibly, but it has to be accounted that modern technology has made things far more efficient, cheap, and lower-maintenance. If this is to pump sewage, a modern system for the same purpose, using electric pumps, could be built for a fraction the cost, fit in a small shed and run unattended, requiring only occasional inspections and maintenance. Some of the components might wear out sooner than this engine that could run for centuries, but the total operating cost would be far less. Aside from this massive engine being an incredible visual spectacle and being unquestionably really cool, functionally the modern system is better in every way. They just didn't have that technology back then.
@@quillmaurer6563 you're actually wrong. Sacrificing overall reliability and quality for ease and price is actually a phenomenon nowadays. If you worked in any actual industry that works with technology or engines you'd know this. But you don't.
Yes, that's right. It's absolute beautiful. Not only the "technic" itselves, but also the surroundig (which has no special use) but looks beautiful, too! You can't compare it with what we produce in recent times: "livesless, souless" things to which you will never get a "personal" relationship!!! THAT IS OUR GREATEST PROBLEM TODAY. No "respect" to human beeings, to nature and things we produce.
@@grren1782 would you rather install operate the pump in the video instead of a small electric pump in a shed somewhere? One takes an entire building, probably costs 100x more, and is probably no more reliable (I count a lot of moving parts in the steam engine). Yes the pump in the video is damn beautiful and impressive, but I would take the modern one any day
Excuse my late answer: I'm sure, Victorians would be absolutlely pleased, if they knew that! Slowly the beauty and genius of ancient technics is getting to be appreciated today!. See all the trusts and volunteers doing a very good job. Greetings from Austrian /Europe!
what struck me is the quietness. the second thing was the thought of scale. how unafraid and uncompromising these people where, and how willing to scale up. nowadays everything has to be smaller, compact, handy. simplicity is beautiful, comprehensible, and long lasting. have we forgotten those virtues?
There are two WW II Liberty ships still in operation as museum ships. I've been onboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien on a full day cruise around San Francisco Bay, and it is amazing to be in the engine room with those three pistons running at 60 rpm, silently. The low pressure cylinder is 6 feet across, and to see it rising and falling once a second, *silently*, is utterly fascinating. Then some crewman walks by, slaps the bearing as it goes by so he can check the temperature, and drips an oil can on it, at 60 rpm, **silently**. The silence is almost deafening, and you gradually begin to hear its own sounds, of steam hissing and the bearings and little creakings, and realize you couldn't hear it because you are so used to noisy internal combustion engines.
It's unbelievable how much was put into making such a huge engine! People put alot of love into what they made back in the day. Nowadays its fast production and how small can it be without sacrificing it's efficiency and power! Respect to these ancestors of power work!
Oh my god that is just beautiful. I love the way the Victorians decorated and embellished even the most utilitarian places and engines. Engineering as art. The workers may have been overworked and underpaid, but at least they had lovely surroundings. We could do with a bit more of that these days.
Its true. In the US even commuter trains and trolley cars had beautiful stained glass and woodwork. The craftsmanship was very impressive and you can tell how much pride was taken in their work.
Look at the Building, Victorian Era pumping Machinery structures look like Temples to the Machines they protected, they are ornate and complete with fancy glass and gingerbread. The Machines themselves are works of are both functionally and as moving sculpture
you are right. What an inspiring place it must have to work, all the while knowing you are just pumping shit. But also realizing this job of yours saved lives every day.
The day they tell the builders that the building is for fellow tradesmen to work in,, all stops pulled out and suddenly its just "understood" what will be needed..
And I thought the flywheel on the video I watched before this one was BIG. Silly, silly man! To be SO massive these machines are quiet!!....... The craftsmanship on this device is evident....... Cool machine!!!!!!!!!
I love how the engines are so majestic that they have names. The Architecture and the Engines merge - so you can't really tell where one begins and the other ends. Beautiful. Like a cathedral of steam.
It is so wonderful to see even one of the engines in such a fabulous restored condition. I was taken on a trip with other students to see these when I was at college in Hackney the early 1970's. We were told at the time that the reason the engines survived is that the land was not needed and the the cost of destruction and demolition was prohibitive, apparently Cohen Bros, the biggest scrap company in Britain at the time turned down the job - thank goodness! It was so dark and abandoned, we had to use torches, and taking photographs with my simple camera was not very succesful, everything seemed thick with rust, including the magnificent decorative cast panels in the center, apparently most of the easily removable brass had been taken as scrap for beer money. The more adventurous of us went down into the lower areas where the main pumps and boiler feed pumps were. Seeing the immense scale of the engines, it seemed impossible that it could ever be restored. What an extraordinary effort on the part of the people who carried out the work. Truly amazing, Thank You!
Back in the days when engines built for pumping sewerage warranted such ornate ironwork and being named after members of the Royal Family. The Victorian era had many faults bit god I love it.
It had faults because everything was groundbreaking in every area of human activity and naturally the flaws would have to turn up, I take my hat off to the British people as they were principally the people and nation that done the hard yards in establishing the modern industrial political economic state , take one single article like steam pipe and the effort and knowledge on the quality required to stand up to the job required , and that is just one article of the millions of pieces of equipment used in the modern era , truly amazing .
Sir, with all due respect, please thank God and the Victorians that they built this sewage pumping station and more like it. We in India had failed to learn the importance of such things, neglected them and are paying the price for the neglect a hundred years ago.
it's a thing of outstanding beauty,like so many things from the Victorian Era...Hats off to the men who restored it and maintain it,it must take a lot of dedication and hard work...thank you gentlemen
Thank you too for watching and your friendly feedback. It's really appreciated! I think you wont be disappointed, if you visit Crossness. Greetings from Austria/Europe
Good stuff, love the early engineering, love the steel,, brass, giant castings the steam age. Things were built, like works of art, we learnt a lot. My thanks to all those that restore and look after our fascinating engineering history,
Thank you so very very much for posting this! I wish I could come and see this in person. Also, I think young engineers should have to go see things like this to round out their studies and maybe come across an idea or two.
Absolutely incredible, the effort that was put into the BEAUTY of this engine and the entire plant! It HAS to be the most beautiful sewage pumping plant in the world! ;o)
Your videos are helpful in illustrating how early stationary steam engines worked. I visited a couple of your videos because my brother suggested Bach's English Suite 3 in G minor be played to the movement of a triple expansion steam engine.
Tis indeed a thing of beauty! The artwork inside the building at 6:50 just after Mr Gilmore just goes to prove it is art! Modern machines are noisy but this is just so spookily quite quite a gentle giant ... albeit for pump sewage!!
It's an absolute pleasure for eyes,ears (and brain - for understanding how it works) to visit the pumping station.Thanks for your very friendly comment!
The wealth of the empire of the time I think is impressed in the functionally superfluous but elegant architecture in which the engine was housed. I'm enjoying looking at great old steam engines this morning and thinking about history. Thanks for sharing this video.
Comparing today's technology with that of the previous two centuries, it amazes me that they accomplished so much with what they had at the time. The engineering to build something like this has few words to express how really impressive and amazing this is. They must have built the machine, then built the building around it.
those big rocking beam steam engines are a sight to behold! They are in sharp contrast to the fast running motors we're used to nowadays. These big machines also last and last.
With steam engines, they may have less horsepower, but they have incredible amounts of torque over modern engines. For pump applications, this design is ideal.
Amazing engineering and amazing British zeal for preserving history. The engine looks new, the building is so well preserved and even the 'workers' are in period uniform
Amazing this survived not only the blitz bombs but our own misguided policy of tearing down the past, both for the "scrap iron effort" and post war disdain for the past. I'm sure there have been those who would have been quite happy to see it go. Thank you for preserving it.
Excellent video! Very impressive machines, not to mention the paint-work. One slightly whimsical aspect of this is that the sewage engines were all named after members of the then Royal Family. I'm not sure how honoured anyone would be to have a sewage pump named after them! The opening sounds like it was an impressive bash, apparently apart from the Prince of Wales there were also 2 Archbishops and a fair number of other worthies!
I think this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. How I would love to just sit and watch it for hours. I am determined to get to see it - at whatever cost - before old age makes it impossible for me to do the stairs. hat a very very special piece of our history.
I first became aware of this piece of engineering ballet through the illustrious Mr Fred Dibnah, I have been to see it and I'm still breathless every time I see it , the concept , the building being wrapped around the beam , the cathedral atmosphere and the powerful elegance not equalled to my mind . Beautiful.
Incredible video! I love the industrial design of that era. The engine house, the fittings inside, even the engines themselves have elegant decoration. Amazing feat of technology- and there are four of them! I doubt whether a foundry could be found today to cast either the beam or flywheel for one of these.
It's an interesting question. I think you could find a foundry (e.g. a builder of large marine engines) but it would probably cost a fortune. Thanks for posting!
You absolutely got that right! I totally agree with you. It was a wonderful era. Where in blazes did we go wrong?? We became "modern". Oh joy... :( Me thinks we should go back to the days of carousals, hand-carved, wood horses, WurliTzer band organs and big theatre organs. Now you're talkin'! Not to mention vintage cars. In short, a whole other era. Great post here.
China and south korea still make massive castings. They are the number ship builders in the world right now. China was still producing steam locomotives up untill 1999.
Good grief! What a gorgeous building with an incredibly ingeniuos machine. Finest craftsmanship. Building and engine are also artworks. Simply fantastic! Thanks a lot for taping/uploading and sharing.
As you see, the girl was very proud, to do this job. They have a really kind staff of volunteers at Crossness, it's really worth the visit, not only for steam enthusiasts. Thanks for your kind comment and greetings from Austria!
Thoroughly enjoyable video, thank you! The model and the captions were very helpful in understanding the operation. This is quite an impressive and beautiful machine. I hope to see it if I visit England.
Just the amazing castings in this thing are impressive. I wonder if there is even a place nowadays to get a casting of this size? And how much does that beam or one of those wheels weigh? Wow.
I look at all the joints that oscillate instead of continuously rotate and think to myself. The wear on the bearings must be different for the oscillating joints that don't necessarily even see a full rotation in their lifetime. I also love the reverence that a cutting edge & highly productive machine of the era had. You could have built a building with strictly functional beams and no decor. Instead it was beautifully crafted with many accouterments.
Fortunately there has been a change of mind in the last decades and fortunately there is a lot of volunteers to bring back into a second life old technical treasures. I think, it's nearly the same in the US, when I'm watching videos of e.g. these amazing American Corliss steam engines. Thanks for watching and posting, greetings from Europe!
The assembly of the machine would be story in itself. Those parts are huge, one wonders how they managed to lift and place those parts with the technology of those days. Good idea for the next video. Just transporting those parts would be challenge today.
I've been there twice, and it's worth every penny. There's quite a bit to look at as well as the engines, such as the historical aspect of the london sewers. (I can't remember if they do catering, I took a packed lunch and a bottle of pop). If you like this sort of stuff, go and have a look at the Kempton waterworks engines one day, to the west of London; they are just as big and well worth visiting on a steaming day.
Thank you! I always try to understand the 'how it works' and to make better videos with this new knowledge! It's rather difficult, to get written infos about special steam engines, but your idea to make interviews sounds good - I'll try that at my next visit to the UK. Thanks again.
What awsome technology and beauty. Kudostro those who saw merit in restoring this Engine and the engine house. Gone are the days machines were beautiful and the house was a piece of sculpture. Why did they make it beautiful? Because they could and it mattered.!
People lived simply and cheaply. Labour was phenomenally cheap. No unions. Elsewhere in the UK workers were exploited to the level of slave labour. Despite all this there was a pride in hard work and doing the job well. Precious few rewards in other ways. Millions of putty medals to those who save and restore our industrial heritage for our forebears to (hopefully) appreciate. Those who were employed in enterprises such as the sewage works, would, almost to a man, be intensely proud of their creations. Thank you for your vid harryolynx.
A beautifully put-together video. I especially liked the integration of the functional diagram and of the erectorset model, and of course the explanatory subtitles. Perhaps you could interview the restorers next year?
Well, I think, both of us were meaning the same thing: an impressive engine running again. I only wanted to complete, that still another engine of this kind is in the queue. Greetings to NL!
Back in 1975 I went to work in Zambia.On arrival and my first day at work I thought I had walked into a museum!The power plant was built in 1930 and I had never seen such ancient equipment but it all worked!Sadly no longer there!!!
Thats so amazing! Glad to see that there are people know how to operate these things! The sound and design is so nice, sad that technology these days got so ugly :/ Greetings from Germany (:
Oh no, they've got Diesel pumps since 1913 and then electric pumps. The displayed Prince Consort was temporarily put back in steam in 1953 to assist with draining the flooding of the eastern Royal Arsenal and Abbey Wood and therefore restored as the first engine of the four ones. Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is indeed a beautiful work of art, and a tribute to human invention. How a youtube movie like this can have 24 thumbs down baffles my mind. Even if you are a bad kind of ecoterrorist, I still assume that you can realize this is a museum, not an all day round, full speed ahead, coal fume spewing doomsday machine.
@Spudforth No, luckily a lot of efforts is done by the restoration team to bring back all four engines into steam. 'Victoria' engine, the neighbour of the working 'Prince Consort' engine is just on a good way - you can see the restored valve gear of Victoria's intermediate cylinder in a short footage of my other Crossness video "How It Works: The Crossness Engines' Valve Gear". The other two engines have been put on hold. Thanks for watching and posting! Greetings from Austria!
I wonder so many things when I look at this magnificent engine. First...How did we even make these large components? How much did this engine cost back in the day...and how much would it cost today to recreate IF we could even recreate this thing today...
If I had to hazard a guess the parts are probably made from cast iron though I could be wrong on this but I suspect in those days the pistons and rods would have been polished by hand. Cost wise I have no idea at the time but I suspect that these days a custom fabrication on that sort of scale you would easily have to be looking at several million pounds I suspect though that is partly because I think you will be paying a lot for it as it would be a custom one off fabrication parts from standard patterns of course cost less.
All designed with no computers or CNC machines ..........just brain power and brute strength. Absolute amazing artistry.
I work at crossness in 1971/72 , the beam house as was known then , was sadly very badly neglected, i am sure it would not still be there now if it was not so big it would have been scrapped and long gone, thankfully it was not, the boilers were not there when I was there and the chimney was gone, all very sad, on wet days we went into the beam house to sweep up rust, I visited on steaming day 2 years ago the first time in 47 years, there were no houses around the works then, you could see up to Plumpstead just fields then, our mess room toilets washrooms workshops were there then, where the teashop/cafeteria is now, congratulations to all those who involved them selves in its restoration it was so wonderful to see it in all its former glory, I only live long enough to see them all working, just up the road on the same site there is another pump house which is set down in ground, and has the most the most beautful 6 or 8 flat cylinder gas engines I cannot remember how many there were? I remember one two running they were absolutely stunning, the were huge electrical pumps, these were run also, these too should be preserved for prosperity and future generations, and opened to the public,
One has to stop and admire the genius and artistry of the Victorian engineers. This is a magnificent machine for the vital purpose of pumping sewage to improve the sanitary conditions and health of London's populace.
A century ago, sewage pumping stations were built more beautiful than churches would be nowadays! And the engine is fantastic! I've seen water pumping engines in London, but this machine takes the prize. Thanks!
This is more than a machine, it is a piece of kinetic art on a massive scale. Just astonishing and a thing of beauty.
What it was doing really did not matter, the engineers that built this where really only concerned with the quality of their workmanship. we see it as beautiful, but ho-hum in a mass produced age....many people, at this point, only saw an engine a few times in their lives, much less something on this scale.
It's pride in work and engineering that is , sadly, lost for most people
With the construction of these pumping engines (and the associated plumbing) London became one of the first cities ever to have a proper sewerage system, and its construction was a hugely expensive and technologically advanced effort on the part of the British Government. It shouldn't be a surprise that there was quite a lot of pride put into the fittings of the system- they were technological marvels of their age.
And so remarkably quiet and graceful in its movement.
any steam engine is poetry in motion.
@@phoenixrising4573 Without these engines a lot more of people would've died of cholera due to lack of sewage. It makes sense that engineers would make these machines houses of opulence, their creations were the solutions to a big problem.
We are so lucky as many of these pumping stations survived.
Abbey pumping Station in Leicester was the one I visited several times growing up
There is something majestic about these external combustion engines that you can walk into and around. The gigantic walking beams and slowly spinning flywheels have visceral presence. Glad they were too big to destroy and that since they were there someone decided they should live on. Thanks for sharing.
Seeing machinery and architecture like this really makes you wonder about things built today. It's all how fast and how cheap can we make it
Possibly, but it has to be accounted that modern technology has made things far more efficient, cheap, and lower-maintenance. If this is to pump sewage, a modern system for the same purpose, using electric pumps, could be built for a fraction the cost, fit in a small shed and run unattended, requiring only occasional inspections and maintenance. Some of the components might wear out sooner than this engine that could run for centuries, but the total operating cost would be far less. Aside from this massive engine being an incredible visual spectacle and being unquestionably really cool, functionally the modern system is better in every way. They just didn't have that technology back then.
We only see what people thought was worth keeping.
@@quillmaurer6563 you're actually wrong. Sacrificing overall reliability and quality for ease and price is actually a phenomenon nowadays. If you worked in any actual industry that works with technology or engines you'd know this. But you don't.
Yes, that's right. It's absolute beautiful. Not only the "technic" itselves, but also the surroundig (which has no special use) but looks beautiful, too! You can't compare it with what we produce in recent times: "livesless, souless" things to which you will never get a "personal" relationship!!! THAT IS OUR GREATEST PROBLEM TODAY. No "respect" to human beeings, to nature and things we produce.
@@grren1782 would you rather install operate the pump in the video instead of a small electric pump in a shed somewhere? One takes an entire building, probably costs 100x more, and is probably no more reliable (I count a lot of moving parts in the steam engine). Yes the pump in the video is damn beautiful and impressive, but I would take the modern one any day
Excuse my late answer: I'm sure, Victorians would be absolutlely pleased, if they knew that! Slowly the beauty and genius of ancient technics is getting to be appreciated today!. See all the trusts and volunteers doing a very good job. Greetings from Austrian /Europe!
what struck me is the quietness. the second thing was the thought of scale. how unafraid and uncompromising these people where, and how willing to scale up. nowadays everything has to be smaller, compact, handy. simplicity is beautiful, comprehensible, and long lasting. have we forgotten those virtues?
Like waking a sleeping giant. It's amazing how graceful something that big can be, and relatively quiet, as well.
There are two WW II Liberty ships still in operation as museum ships. I've been onboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien on a full day cruise around San Francisco Bay, and it is amazing to be in the engine room with those three pistons running at 60 rpm, silently. The low pressure cylinder is 6 feet across, and to see it rising and falling once a second, *silently*, is utterly fascinating. Then some crewman walks by, slaps the bearing as it goes by so he can check the temperature, and drips an oil can on it, at 60 rpm, **silently**.
The silence is almost deafening, and you gradually begin to hear its own sounds, of steam hissing and the bearings and little creakings, and realize you couldn't hear it because you are so used to noisy internal combustion engines.
It's unbelievable how much was put into making such a huge engine! People put alot of love into what they made back in the day. Nowadays its fast production and how small can it be without sacrificing it's efficiency and power! Respect to these ancestors of power work!
Oh my god that is just beautiful. I love the way the Victorians decorated and embellished even the most utilitarian places and engines. Engineering as art. The workers may have been overworked and underpaid, but at least they had lovely surroundings. We could do with a bit more of that these days.
i think to them it was boring and modern idk tho
Its true. In the US even commuter trains and trolley cars had beautiful stained glass and woodwork. The craftsmanship was very impressive and you can tell how much pride was taken in their work.
What pride of workmanship in the paint job alone. The sound is magnificent! No whines, roars, or hums at all! Thanks!
Look at the Building, Victorian Era pumping Machinery structures look like Temples to the Machines they protected, they are ornate and complete with fancy glass and gingerbread. The Machines themselves are works of are both functionally and as moving sculpture
Gingerbread? It's decorated with food? Whaa?
Patterns of ornate, decorative architectural elements.
you are right. What an inspiring place it must have to work, all the while knowing you are just pumping shit. But also realizing this job of yours saved lives every day.
The day they tell the builders that the building is for fellow tradesmen to work in,, all stops pulled out and suddenly its just "understood" what will be needed..
Beautiful and functional/practical! It is possible.
the embellishing of the machine house is remarkable. They must have been proud of what they accomplished.
Victorians through and through. If wasn't going to be grand, it wasn't worth the effort.
Their pride was well-deserved.
It is a sewage pumping station, yet there is art everywhere. No surface is left plain.
And I thought the flywheel on the video I watched before this one was BIG. Silly, silly man! To be SO massive these machines are quiet!!....... The craftsmanship on this device is evident....... Cool machine!!!!!!!!!
’I used to nip in the engine house to have a look on my way down to the river when I was about 10. 70 years ago. Hasn’t changed much.
I noticed it could do with a lick of paint here and there and a bit of a scrub up!
I love how the engines are so majestic that they have names. The Architecture and the Engines merge - so you can't really tell where one begins and the other ends. Beautiful. Like a cathedral of steam.
It is so wonderful to see even one of the engines in such a fabulous restored condition. I was taken on a trip with other students to see these when I was at college in Hackney the early 1970's. We were told at the time that the reason the engines survived is that the land was not needed and the the cost of destruction and demolition was prohibitive, apparently Cohen Bros, the biggest scrap company in Britain at the time turned down the job - thank goodness!
It was so dark and abandoned, we had to use torches, and taking photographs with my simple camera was not very succesful, everything seemed thick with rust, including the magnificent decorative cast panels in the center, apparently most of the easily removable brass had been taken as scrap for beer money. The more adventurous of us went down into the lower areas where the main pumps and boiler feed pumps were. Seeing the immense scale of the engines, it seemed impossible that it could ever be restored. What an extraordinary effort on the part of the people who carried out the work. Truly amazing, Thank You!
So beautiful, the days when the pride of craftsmanship showed in the machinery and even the buildings that housed them.
Back in the days when engines built for pumping sewerage warranted such ornate ironwork and being named after members of the Royal Family. The Victorian era had many faults bit god I love it.
It had faults because everything was groundbreaking in every area of human activity and naturally the flaws would have to turn up, I take my hat off to the British people as they were principally the people and nation that done the hard yards in establishing the modern industrial political economic state , take one single article like steam pipe and the effort and knowledge on the quality required to stand up to the job required , and that is just one article of the millions of pieces of equipment used in the modern era , truly amazing .
Sir, with all due respect, please thank God and the Victorians that they built this sewage pumping station and more like it. We in India had failed to learn the importance of such things, neglected them and are paying the price for the neglect a hundred years ago.
Crazy thing is that it doesnt cost any more for the foundry to cast a piece of iron that is an ornate design or just plain and flat
it's a thing of outstanding beauty,like so many things from the Victorian Era...Hats off to the men who restored it and maintain it,it must take a lot of dedication and hard work...thank you gentlemen
Thank you too for watching and your friendly feedback. It's really appreciated! I think you wont be disappointed, if you visit Crossness. Greetings from Austria/Europe
I think this place is well worth a visit. It's a nice touch to name sewage pumps after members of the Royal Family!
This way at least, the royals are associated with something worthwhile to civilization.
Thank you Mr. Gilmore and everyone else who had anything to do with this splendid video and its splendid object.
Good stuff, love the early engineering, love the steel,, brass, giant castings the steam age. Things were built, like works of art, we learnt a lot. My thanks to all those that restore and look after our fascinating engineering history,
The text says: "A beautiful machine and a beautiful building! It shows that builders and renovators put in a lot of work and love."
Thank you so very very much for posting this! I wish I could come and see this in person. Also, I think young engineers should have to go see things like this to round out their studies and maybe come across an idea or two.
What a glorious piece of engineering art. Visiting Cross Ness is definitely on my bucket list.
Absolutely incredible, the effort that was put into the BEAUTY of this engine and the entire plant!
It HAS to be the most beautiful sewage pumping plant in the world! ;o)
It's never too late as long as these mechanical giants are kept in running order. Thanks for your post!
You can see when that was built Britain had such confidence in itself and was proud to show it !!!
Your videos are helpful in illustrating how early stationary steam engines worked. I visited a couple of your videos because my brother suggested Bach's English Suite 3 in G minor be played to the movement of a triple expansion steam engine.
Tis indeed a thing of beauty! The artwork inside the building at 6:50 just after Mr Gilmore just goes to prove it is art!
Modern machines are noisy but this is just so spookily quite quite a gentle giant ... albeit for pump sewage!!
It's an absolute pleasure for eyes,ears (and brain - for understanding how it works) to visit the pumping station.Thanks for your very friendly comment!
The wealth of the empire of the time I think is impressed in the functionally superfluous but elegant architecture in which the engine was housed. I'm enjoying looking at great old steam engines this morning and thinking about history. Thanks for sharing this video.
Comparing today's technology with that of the previous two centuries, it amazes me that they accomplished so much with what they had at the time. The engineering to build something like this has few words to express how really impressive and amazing this is. They must have built the machine, then built the building around it.
There is nothing (or at least little) like these more or less quietly and slowly working working classic engines. Thanks for watching and posting!
those big rocking beam steam engines are a sight to behold! They are in sharp contrast to the fast running motors we're used to nowadays. These big machines also last and last.
Not unless maintained constantly, just like any mechanical machine.
"last and last". And are of relatively low power output.
With steam engines, they may have less horsepower, but they have incredible amounts of torque over modern engines. For pump applications, this design is ideal.
Amazing engineering and amazing British zeal for preserving history. The engine looks new, the building is so well preserved and even the 'workers' are in period uniform
That's right. We have two Corliss engines at the museum, and I remember the knocks of the valve gear. Much smaller scale, of course.
Thank you.
hats off to the men who designed and installed it
I am always amazed by the beauty those people put into their machines and buildings that housed them.
they even give their stationary steamies names . love it . lovely presentation. thanks . :)
Amazing this survived not only the blitz bombs but our own misguided policy of tearing down the past, both for the "scrap iron effort" and post war disdain for the past. I'm sure there have been those who would have been quite happy to see it go. Thank you for preserving it.
Absolutely beautiful...would be lucky to be alive during this period everything was built to last and the people so much more refined and dignified
Really well edited and I appreciate the annotations
Wow! Herrliche Aufnahmen dieser Dampfmaschine.
Schade das es hier so etwas nicht gibt.
VG Bidone
Gibt's doch! Kraftmaschinen im deutschen Museum, München. Wundervoll. Herrlich.
Tipp in Schramberg gibt es einen ebenfalls interessanten Generatorsatz... etwas versteckt neben dem Automuseum-Lobenswert anzuschauen
@@CHN-dp9fs Danke. Das Dieselhaus. Ist sehr interessant. Habe es letztes Jahr besucht. 👍
Excellent video!
Very impressive machines, not to mention the paint-work.
One slightly whimsical aspect of this is that the sewage engines were all named after members of the then Royal Family. I'm not sure how honoured anyone would be to have a sewage pump named after them!
The opening sounds like it was an impressive bash, apparently apart from the Prince of Wales there were also 2 Archbishops and a fair number of other worthies!
I think this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. How I would love to just sit and watch it for hours. I am determined to get to see it - at whatever cost - before old age makes it impossible for me to do the stairs. hat a very very special piece of our history.
I first became aware of this piece of engineering ballet through the illustrious Mr Fred Dibnah, I have been to see it and I'm still breathless every time I see it , the concept , the building being wrapped around the beam , the cathedral atmosphere and the powerful elegance not equalled to my mind . Beautiful.
Incredible video! I love the industrial design of that era. The engine house, the fittings inside, even the engines themselves have elegant decoration. Amazing feat of technology- and there are four of them! I doubt whether a foundry could be found today to cast either the beam or flywheel for one of these.
It's an interesting question. I think you could find a foundry (e.g. a builder of large marine engines) but it would probably cost a fortune. Thanks for posting!
You absolutely got that right! I totally agree with you. It was a wonderful era. Where in blazes did we go wrong?? We became "modern". Oh joy... :( Me thinks we should go back to the days of carousals, hand-carved, wood horses, WurliTzer band organs and big theatre organs. Now you're talkin'! Not to mention vintage cars. In short, a whole other era. Great post here.
Irony... using UA-cam to lament modern life!!
China and south korea still make massive castings. They are the number ship builders in the world right now. China was still producing steam locomotives up untill 1999.
It’s a resource, it’s free, it’s available.
after all these years it still runs perfectly.... nice vid Thanks for posting
absolutely gorgeous engine.Oh dear in love with a sewage pump.
I could sit and watch stuff like this for hours.
Good grief! What a gorgeous building with an incredibly ingeniuos machine. Finest craftsmanship. Building and engine are also artworks. Simply fantastic! Thanks a lot for taping/uploading and sharing.
A masterpiece of design and engineering, both in the engine and the architecture. We only wish we had such a thing in New England!
Восхитительно... Торжество механики и промышленной архитектуры. Поэзия в металле и камне.
As you see, the girl was very proud, to do this job. They have a really kind staff of volunteers at Crossness, it's really worth the visit, not only for steam enthusiasts. Thanks for your kind comment and greetings from Austria!
Thoroughly enjoyable video, thank you! The model and the captions were very helpful in understanding the operation. This is quite an impressive and beautiful machine. I hope to see it if I visit England.
Just the amazing castings in this thing are impressive. I wonder if there is even a place nowadays to get a casting of this size? And how much does that beam or one of those wheels weigh? Wow.
God bless the Brits for preserving these wonderful machines. We Americans would have scrapped it 70 years ago. Such short sight
I look at all the joints that oscillate instead of continuously rotate and think to myself. The wear on the bearings must be different for the oscillating joints that don't necessarily even see a full rotation in their lifetime.
I also love the reverence that a cutting edge & highly productive machine of the era had. You could have built a building with strictly functional beams and no decor. Instead it was beautifully crafted with many accouterments.
Wow! Everything about this is beyond impressive. I don't even really know how to put it.
Even sewage pumps and their engine houses were built at that time with fine Victorian taste! Thanks for watching!
The whole ensemble is a piece of art! Thanks for posting!
I keep promising myself to go and see this. I have seen the Kempton Park engines they are massive! I adore Victorian engineering!
This is a wonderful masterpiece of the technical art! Thank you for video!
There's something so visceral about these kinds of machines. Fascinating.
The sheer enormity of the parts is amazing. How many tons is the flywheel alone?
Extremely cool letting the kid start the engine.
Excellant, interesting post, thanks!
Thank you for posting this! What a wonderful machine.
Fortunately there has been a change of mind in the last decades and fortunately there is a lot of volunteers to bring back into a second life old technical treasures. I think, it's nearly the same in the US, when I'm watching videos of e.g. these amazing American Corliss steam engines. Thanks for watching and posting, greetings from Europe!
I am so thankful im the type of person who enjoys every aspect of this.
The assembly of the machine would be story in itself. Those parts are huge, one wonders how they managed to lift and place those parts with the technology of those days. Good idea for the next video. Just transporting those parts would be challenge today.
I've been there twice, and it's worth every penny. There's quite a bit to look at as well as the engines, such as the historical aspect of the london sewers. (I can't remember if they do catering, I took a packed lunch and a bottle of pop). If you like this sort of stuff, go and have a look at the Kempton waterworks engines one day, to the west of London; they are just as big and well worth visiting on a steaming day.
Thank you! I always try to understand the 'how it works' and to make better videos with this new knowledge! It's rather difficult, to get written infos about special steam engines, but your idea to make interviews sounds good - I'll try that at my next visit to the UK. Thanks again.
What awsome technology and beauty. Kudostro those who saw merit in restoring this Engine and the engine house. Gone are the days machines were beautiful and the house was a piece of sculpture. Why did they make it beautiful? Because they could and it mattered.!
People lived simply and cheaply. Labour was phenomenally cheap. No unions. Elsewhere in the UK workers were exploited to the level of slave labour. Despite all this there was a pride in hard work and doing the job well. Precious few rewards in other ways. Millions of putty medals to those who save and restore our industrial heritage for our forebears to (hopefully) appreciate. Those who were employed in enterprises such as the sewage works, would, almost to a man, be intensely proud of their creations. Thank you for your vid harryolynx.
This is one of the most beautiful examples of human ingenuity.
A beautifully put-together video. I especially liked the integration of the functional diagram and of the erectorset model, and of course the explanatory subtitles.
Perhaps you could interview the restorers next year?
Thanks for your friendly feedback and the story of Mr. Burke. Greetings to Gainesville!
Stunning machinery. Hats off to that remarkable island, Britain-initiator and pace-setter of the Industrial Revolution
Well, I think, both of us were meaning the same thing: an impressive engine running again. I only wanted to complete, that still another engine of this kind is in the queue. Greetings to NL!
Clearly a place one would be proud to work, not only functional, but pleasing to the eye. That's something that's lost in our time.
It is Polish, It says; It's a beautiful machine and a beautiful building! That shows builders and renovators put in a lot of work and heart in it.
Thank you for a delightful, informative visit.
Just flabberghasted! I never heard of such magnificent machines!
Thank you for posting this work of art
Back in 1975 I went to work in Zambia.On arrival and my first day at work I thought I had walked into a museum!The power plant was built in 1930 and I had never seen such ancient equipment but it all worked!Sadly no longer there!!!
Thats so amazing!
Glad to see that there are people know how to operate these things!
The sound and design is so nice, sad that technology these days got so ugly :/
Greetings from Germany (:
Fantastic Victorian mechanical genius these builders were. Thank you for sharing it with the world. This is going in my favorite's,thank you.
Very cool! I also love the small scale mechano (Marklin) model :) What a beautiful piece of living history.
Thank you for a most interesting video. Also, thank you so much for the beautiful background music. All was most enjoyable.
Curious, does this marvel still pump sewage while it is in operation or has the mains
been redirected?
Oh no, they've got Diesel pumps since 1913 and then electric pumps. The displayed Prince Consort was temporarily put back in steam in 1953 to assist with draining the flooding of the eastern Royal Arsenal and Abbey Wood and therefore restored as the first engine of the four ones. Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is indeed a beautiful work of art, and a tribute to human invention. How a youtube movie like this can have 24 thumbs down baffles my mind. Even if you are a bad kind of ecoterrorist, I still assume that you can realize this is a museum, not an all day round, full speed ahead, coal fume spewing doomsday machine.
@Spudforth No, luckily a lot of efforts is done by the restoration team to bring back all four engines into steam. 'Victoria' engine, the neighbour of the working 'Prince Consort' engine is just on a good way - you can see the restored valve gear of Victoria's intermediate cylinder in a short footage of my other Crossness video "How It Works: The Crossness Engines' Valve Gear". The other two engines have been put on hold. Thanks for watching and posting! Greetings from Austria!
I wonder so many things when I look at this magnificent engine. First...How did we even make these large components? How much did this engine cost back in the day...and how much would it cost today to recreate IF we could even recreate this thing today...
If I had to hazard a guess the parts are probably made from cast iron though I could be wrong on this but I suspect in those days the pistons and rods would have been polished by hand. Cost wise I have no idea at the time but I suspect that these days a custom fabrication on that sort of scale you would easily have to be looking at several million pounds I suspect though that is partly because I think you will be paying a lot for it as it would be a custom one off fabrication parts from standard patterns of course cost less.