UNITED KINGDOM Association NEWSLETTER

Giants of the Steam Age - Visit to Kew Bridge Steam Museum - 8 May 1999

The Museum is housed in an impressive 19th Century Pumping Station and centres around the station's five world famous Cornish Beam Engines, two of which can be seen, in steam, every weekend. Originally used to pump West London's water supply for more than a century, one of them, the "Grand Junction 90", is the world's largest working beam engine.

In the surrounding buildings four more large engines, also working at weekends, demonstrate more modern steam pumping machinery as well as diesel and water powered systems.

IPENZ has arranged for a guided tour to take us around the workings. The tour will start promptly at 11 am on 8th May. The trip should take between one to two hours after which we can either lunch in their on-site cafe or at a local hostelry. Those who wish can remain or return to see the engine started at 3 p.m.

Cost is £3.80 per person, £2.50 for our more senior members or students, £2.00 for children over 5 years old or £10.50 for a family ticket. Please pay when you get there. However, so that we don't start the tour without you, please let the Hon. Secretary know if you are coming.

"Grand Junction 90" was built in 1846 by Sandys, Came & Vivian of Copperhouse Foundry, Hayle, Cornwall and was the first engine built in Cornwall specially for waterworks duty.

The cylinder diameter is 90 inches, 132 inch stroke, beam weight 35 tons, 472 gallons per stroke. The original pump plunger of 33 inch diameter was replaced in 1863 with one of 38 inches, this upped the rating of the engine from 5.5 to 7.5 million gallons a day working at 9 1/2 strokes per minute. The rating was later reduced to 6.5 million gallons per day. Today the engine is run at 4 to 4 1/2 strokes per minute and the weight of the plunger has been reduced from 45 to 36 tons.

Some years ago, presenters from the Blue Peter television programme climbed into the cylinder through the inlet valve and held a tea party on top of the piston.

The standpipe tower at the museum is a prominent local landmark. It was built in 1867 to replace an earlier open lattice structure which suffered severe frost damage that January.

The tower is 60m (197ft) tall and contains two systems of vertical pipes, one rising to 53.3m (175ft) and one to 71.7m (235ft), the pipes start below ground level.

Each stroke of a pump would force water up one of the open topped pipes until it spilled over into the failing main. The level of water in the failing main depended on the level in the distant reservoirs, mains pipes, etc. This design transformed the pulsating surges from the pumps into the constant head required for street supply mains. It also protected the pumps from a sudden loss of load, such as a burst main, which could seriously damage the pump and engine. An additional precaution was the air vessel between each pump and the tower. These were closed cylinders with domed tops containing air which acted as shock absorbers to smooth the flow of water from the pumps.

Many Victorian waterworks had their own railway. At Kew bridge this is demonstrated by a short line featuring the Steam locomotive "Cloister".

How to find the museum

The Museum Is located about 100 yards from the north side of Kew Bridge under the tall Victorian Standpipe Tower.

Address: Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0EN.

Information: telephone 0181 568 4757 or fax 0181 569 9978.

Buses: 65, 237, 267, 391.
British Rail: Kew Bridge (from Waterloo).
Tube: Gunnersbury or Kew Gardens then by bus.

A Word From Our Chairman

Many thanks to our previous Chairmen and Committee members over the past few years. They have made it a hard act to follow. Already we have a number of functions which are now established milestones in the IPENZ UK Calendar - the AGM, Barbecue, Christmas 'Soirée'and more recently the Graduates' Evening.

I should also extend thanks to wives and family member who I know have put in lots of hard work over the years.

As we look ahead to a new millennium, we see lots of exciting prospects in store. Already Ian and I have been involved in several meetings designed to promote and bring together NZ/UK Associations in the UK. These organisations include The New Zealand Society, London NZ Cricket Club, NZ Women's Society, Ngati Ranana, NZ Arts club, NZ graduates are but a few.

The prospect of discounted membership, including use of a discount card currently being developed has been proposed (and implemented). One of the more ambitious projects is a Millennium ball to be held in October this year to coincide with the rugby world cup. Another project is for a New Year's Eve party for the Millennium. Watch this space for more details ...

Christmas Soirée

Another great time was had by all at this year's Christmas Soirée. Perhaps because of the closeness of Christmas, the turnout was smaller than usual, but it was a warm gathering all the same. The Australian High Commissioner was at hand to talk to all and sundry. Great to see the old - or should I say experienced - faces together with lots of new ones as well.

Graham Barber (Chairman IPENZ UK Association)

Our thanks to Robert Minchin for organising an excellent day out. We were able to walk over a large part of the power station and through controlled areas not available to chance callers. According to tests, we did not pick up any significant levels of radiation otherwise we understand that we would have been prevented from leaving and probably hosed down. At one point our entire visit seemed in jeopardy, but fortunately all our members managed to squeeze through the turnstiles, albeit with little extra room.

We were all fascinated by the complexity of the pipework around the turbines. We concluded that the designers must have had a job lot of bends to use up. There were some worrying patches around steam pipes but we were assured that they were all part of the design and it was all perfectly safe.

Did you know that to supply the entire electrical energy needs of an individual during their lifetime would produce only three briefcases full of radioactive waste? What they didn't tell us was how long we needed to store our briefcases before we could reopen them.

If you were worried about the millennium bug affecting power generation in this country you would have been reassured by the 1950's era banks of pre-computer electrical and mechanical switches still in operation.

Subscriptions

Our financial year ended at the end of last month and so it is again time for us all to renew our subscriptions. All financial members who wished to be included on the circulation list will also receive a copy of the latest list for their information. An updated list will be issued in June. If you wish to receive the new copy, you will need to return your subscription promptly.

Funding From New Zealand

Many of you may be aware that we receive a nominal sum from IPENZ head office towards our funds based on our perceived membership (i.e. all those members giving the UK as their address). The amount we receive per member has remained the same in New Zealand dollars for a number of years. Last year, when IPENZ's Chief Executive, Warwick Bishop, was over here, he mentioned that he would prefer a different method of providing funding in order to encourage branches to organise more productive events as opposed to purely social activities. To this end he has suggested that our level of funding for last year should be based on our event/running costs. We hope that this change will not affect our overall budgets for next year but we may need to discuss our current branch subscription rates at the AGM. We will keep you posted on this.

You might be an engineer if ....

-	At Christmas, it goes without saying that you will be the one to find the burned out bulb in the string of Christmas lights.
-	Everyone else on the Cruise is on deck gazing at the scenery, and you are still on a personal tour of the engine room.
-	At university, you thought the Spring Break was metal fatigue failure.
-	The Salespeople at the local computer store can't answer any of your questions.
-	You are at an air show and know how fast the skydivers are failing.
-	You can quote scenes from any Monty Python movie.
-	You comment to your partner that their straight hair is nice and parallel.
-	You go on the rides at Disneyland and sit backwards in the chairs to see how they do the special effects.
-	You have saved every power cord from all your broken appliances.
-	You look forward to Christmas only to put together the kids' toys.
-	You bought your wife a new CD ROM drive for her birthday.
-	You see a good design and still have to change it.
-	You spent more on your calculator than you did on your wedding ring.
-	You still own a slide rule and you know how to use it.
-	You think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get enough sleep.
-	You're both in the back seat of your car, she's looking wistfully at the moon, and you're trying to locate a geosynchronous satellite.
-	Your laptop computer costs more than your car.
-	Your spouse hasn't the foggiest idea of what you do at work.
-	You've already calculated how much you make per second.
-	You have tried to repair a £5 radio.
	Contributed by W.B.

Rugby Commentators. New Zealand may have found their own new woman rugby commentator when Helen Brabazon, Newstalk ZB's talkback host found herself having to provide live commentary for the Super 12 rugby match early on Easter Sunday morning. Her version sparked calls from amused people wanting copies of a commentary that replaced the usual rugby clichés with new terms like "mega-possession" and "whoops".

Occasionally there was a bit of confusion: "I don't know what any of the signals mean, so I simply can't tell you, but they're all in a heap on the ground and the referee is calling for, what's this, a lineout, no... not a lineout."

House Sales on the Increase. Bad news for struggling U K Association members intending to sell up and move back to New Zealand. House sales in New Zealand have increased by 25% fuelled by low interest rates. Average house prices have also risen by as much as 25% in some regions. The median house price of $170,000 is the highest it has been for at least four years.

Auckland's Sky Tower has won a structural achievement award from the Institution of Structural Engineers in this country. The Institution recommended Sky Tower as "the height and special nature of the tower placed it beyond the scope of conventional design codes."

Dates for Your Diary

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