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| Issue 54: News |
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Page 15 of 24 Last beam engine is pumping again The last Cornish beam pumping engine to work commercially in Cornwall is to pump water again.  The pump, which was based at Greensplat in 1894, being mended at Poldark Mine. When running once again, the pump will be the only working pumping engine in Cornwall. The Greensplat Cornish beam engine started life at the Bunny Tin Mine, near St Austell. In 1894, it was removed to the Greensplat China Clay Pit where it worked from 1897 until 1959. It has the distinction of being the very last Cornish beam pumping engine to have worked commercially in Cornwall. The engine was moved to Poldark when the Greensplat China Clay Pit was expanding to where the engine stood. From 1974 until 2006 the engine was operated by compressed air without a pump attached to its pump rod. The Poldark team have been busy converting the engine to operate by hydraulics and have attached a pump in the flooded shaft connected to the engine’s pump rod. The engine will work once again pumping water, this time from the Poldark Mine. It will have the distinction of being the only beam engine in Cornwall to be operated by hydraulics and the only working pumping engine in the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. |
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