Brunel’s pumping station

The chimney and buildings you can see here were originally built as a pumping station for Brunel’s atmospheric railway. Later they became the site for the Longpark pottery, opened in 1883.
Dotted around south Devon can be found a number of pumping stations that date from the atmospheric railway which operated in 1847/8. These buildings were designed to house huge steam engines that would be used to create a vacuum in a pipe set between the tracks of the railway. Atmospheric pressure would then push trains along without need for a locomotive. The scheme worked! One train at least was recorded as reaching 67 mph. This was at a time when horse-drawn omnibuses were restricted to 4 mph.
Unfortunately the system was beset with problems. Telegraph was not fitted along the route so the pumping stations remained running when no trains were on the way and rats developed a taste for the sealing flaps that held in the vacuum. The result was that the system was not viable and was abandoned almost immediately. It is now a wholesale vegetable warehouse.
It was pouring with rain and we were at Lidl which is next door. Hence the long winded industrial archaeology lesson. I’d just come from the hospital where I had had
 an ultrasound scan on my never ending painful arm and shoulder problem. I have had little pain this week though, due I think to conscientiously following the physio exercises.
Looking forward to the specialist report. The practitioner didn’t think there was anything serious as far as she could tell.