Gloucester Waterways Museum
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4.3  Ancilliary Buildings

Llanthony Yard
     The buildings across the yard from Llanthony Warehouse were originally constructed when the Museum was being set up in 1987 as replicas of maintenance yard structures at Hartshill on the Coventry Canal and a canalside house at Fazeley near Tamworth. They included a blacksmith's forge, a carpenter's workshop, an engine house, a weighbridge, stables and offices. Much of the area is now occupied by Coots cafe/bar, but this does incorporate a display of blacksmith's tools, and other buildings now contain the Museum's on-site reserve store and workshop, a working Fielding oil engine and a display of costumes and handicrafts produced by the Boater's Crafts Group of the Friends of the Museum.

Fielding Oil Engine
        This horizontal heavy oil engine was built in the late 1920s by Fielding and Platt Ltd at their nearby Atlas Works in Gloucester. The engine was originally installed at Godwins Engineering Works at Quenington in Gloucestershire where it drove some 400 yards (369 metres) of line shafting, powering the entire factory. During World War II the engine was converted to run a 90 KVA generator, but with the introduction of mains electricity it was kept as a standby unit in case of power cuts etc, last running commercially during the miners' strike in 1974. After this the engine lay unused in its engine house which was eventually burnt down in 1980 leaving the engine exposed to the elements. It has been restored to full working order by members of the Mid Gloster Engine Preservation Society.
     The engine is single cylinder, 14 inch bore, 22 inch stroke, with compression ignition, delivering 80HP at 220 rpm. Cooling water is held in the two round tanks in the corner of the building, beneath which is the fuel tank. The engine is started by a coupie of bursts of compressed air to start the wheel turning. There are two fuel injectors - one direct for starting and one indirect for running. Once the engine is started it is then used to refill the air tank for the next start. The box on the front is an automatic oiler which is calibrated to give the correct amount of oil to each moving part.
     The hipped timber roof of the Engine House was salvaged from a canal pumphouse at Diglis Basin, Worcester. The 6m x 9m structure was transported by boat down the River Severn. It was craned into position and then re-slated.

Off-site Reserve Store
     The Museum has a large off-site store in a former salt warehouse near Hempsted Bridge.

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