Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology
#1
My two sons & I visited the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology on Saturday. This is the site of Hamilton's original steam-powered pump house (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://old.hamilton.ca/myhamilton/CityandGovernment/CultureandRecreation/Arts_Culture_And_Museums/HamiltonCivicMuseums/Events/SteamMuseum.asp?site=STEAM">http://old.hamilton.ca/myhamilton/Citya ... site=STEAM</a><!-- m -->) and it's a great place for railway fans.

Outside the museum, the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers have a huge amount of outdoor track for live-steam locos. We saw at least two different gauges there and were amazed at the number of buildings and the size of the track area. I've posted one pic of this below -- I'll try to post others later.

Inside the museum, the steam engines are spectacular and date back to 1859. The outside of the building is also impressive. There were also several small model steam engines inside the building, which were demonstrated to us. And, being a fan of British model trains, I was really surprised to see a display of Hornby, Triang and Wrenn trains.

At any rate, I can't believe I haven't been here earlier with the kids -- we hope to return in May when the live steam engines will be running & taking people for rides. FYI, I had visited this museum and railway with my parents back in the '70s.

To the Mods: I was in a rush when I posted this thread. Feel free to relocate it as I realize it doesn't quite fit here.

Rob
   
Rob
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#2
The original water pump is a most impressive and ornate piece of Victorian metalwork. I don't believe there are any straight plain pieces of metal. The pump house is 3 stories high (IIRC) and the pump section is way below ground level. When it was operating the flywheel ran at very few rpm (or even slower) and you could see the mechanism work and watch the valves being changed over on each rev. Unfortunately, they lost their steam source years ago. (I haven't heard that they got it back :cry: ) One of the pumps was damaged and couldn't be operated.
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#3
BR60103 Wrote:The original water pump is a most impressive and ornate piece of Victorian metalwork. I don't believe there are any straight plain pieces of metal. The pump house is 3 stories high (IIRC) and the pump section is way below ground level. When it was operating the flywheel ran at very few rpm (or even slower) and you could see the mechanism work and watch the valves being changed over on each rev. Unfortunately, they lost their steam source years ago. (I haven't heard that they got it back :cry: ) One of the pumps was damaged and couldn't be operated.

Hi David,

The steam engines are actually working! You are pretty much right about the height and depth though. A tour guide took a group of us right into the pump house and turned on one of the steam engines and it was really impressive -- even my boys were in awe! Watching the mechanism and flywheel turn was very cool. The guide said that she was running it at a very slow speed -- back in the 1800s, it would have gone about 5x faster.

Also, when they first started restoring the two steam engines back in the 1970s, the volunteer crew could only get one of the engines to work. They had to get professional contractors in to get the other one working. And now, both engines work. They were demonstrating the steam engines every 30 minutes during March break.

At any rate, it's a great place for a railway enthusiast to visit because of the steam engines and steam power -- not to mention the outdoor garden railway.

Rob
Rob
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#4
I obviously haven't been there for many years!
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#5
BR60103 Wrote:I obviously haven't been there for many years!

Well, you actually got me wondering ... Could it be that they have the machinery working but not on steam power? Maybe they're using compressed air or even electricity?! Eek

I was expecting the engines to be noisy and to hear a "chuff chuffing" sound as well as smelling steam/coal but there was none of that. The machinery was very smooth and quiet. The tour guide started the engines by simply inserting a key and pressing a button.

I'm curious so I might even phone them and ask !

Cheers,
Rob
Rob
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#6
Quote:The tour guide started the engines by simply inserting a key and pressing a button.

That might mean that they are using an electric motor to simply turn the mechanism. Steam engines can be realtively quiet, but you would still expect to hear the sound of steam/compression when the piston is moving.

Andrew
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#7
MasonJar Wrote:
Quote:The tour guide started the engines by simply inserting a key and pressing a button.

That might mean that they are using an electric motor to simply turn the mechanism. Steam engines can be realtively quiet, but you would still expect to hear the sound of steam/compression when the piston is moving.

Andrew

Yes, good point. I'm going to try to phone them in the next day or so -- quite curious now! :?: Rob
Rob
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#8
OK, I phoned the Museum today and basically BR60103 / David is right ...

The Museum's engines no longer have any steam power but one engine uses an electric motor to simply run and demonstrate the machinery of one of the machines! :oops: :oops: They said that having a steam source there would create water and rust damage, which would be too expensive to clean and maintain.

It was still neat to see though as everything is immaculately maintained. However, I didn't hear the tour guide say anything about using electricity and that they no longer had any steam power!

Oh well, it's still a cool place to visit for the railway and steam enthusiast, especially with the garden gauge steam railway outside. I plan to take my family back there on the May 23-24 weekend when the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers will have their trains running. And, best of all, the trains are free! (even the Museum might be free then as well?).

Cheers, Rob
Rob
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