Sudbrook Pumping Station

😮 🎥 A once-in-a-generation project at one of our most historic feats of engineering:
⏱️ 14 pumps replaced every three decades
🏋️ at two and a half tonnes each
⛏️ in 60-metre-deep shafts.
👉 www.networkrai...
#railheritage #engineering #amazingengineering

[@wolvolad25]

Shame this wasn’t much longer and more detailed

[@johnlister]

I agree. This is where you need Geoff Marshall or Tom Scott. We saw lots of bits of hardware, but where were the pumps? How did they get their energy? If the pumping station was built in the 1800s, was it originally steam? How Network Rail disappoints, every time

[@robertkemp9023]

Interesting video. We used to send apprentices there for high voltage experience when I worked for a while for the training department of Western Region in the Eighties. Slightly odd including footage of a Thameslink Class 700 in a video about western end of GWR. 🤔

[@martyn6792]

That was a fascinating video, the fact the pumps have a life of thirty years says something for their engineering

[@roboftherock]

What an enthusiastic guide.

[@davedave6404]

QUESTION: Since freshwater, is the output used to supply waterworks as another useful source of drinking and irrigation water?

[@jamesadfowkes]

Some is used by the brewery in Magor and some was used by a paper mill (but not any more). Most is just discharged into the Severn. You can see the discharge outlet on satellite views, to the east of the pumping house.

[@BJHolloway1]

I really think that these videos are interesting as an engineer but they fall short on detail. We can see and understand that the tunnel needs to be kept dry but at no time are we told how much water is pumped out per hour per day etc. and compare it to say a swimming pool. That compariosn would show the public the scale of the feat they have to undertake daily and make it more understandable maybe.

[@ianr]

You should make Kathy your number one video presenter. She is very good at presenting and explaining!

[@Andrewjg_89]

That’s right next to or close to the M4 Second Severn Crossing near Chepstow in Wales. Fascinating stuff Network Rail.

[@drmarkintexas-400]

🏆🏆🏆👍🇺🇲🙏 Thank you for sharing.

[@jeffreyhodge5564]

Has the source of the water ever been discovered?