Water Supply Museum

Last updated

The Water Supply Museum is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It is located in the Sfageion area near the city's western entry point. The museum began operating in February 2001. It is housed in the historical building known as the Old Pump House belonging to the Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewage Company (EYATh). This building was constructed between 1890 and 1892 by a Belgian company, as part of the campaign to modernize Thessaloniki, along with other construction projects like the railways and the gasworks, and later on the electricity company and the tram network.

The museum aims to inform the public about the history of supplying water to Thessaloniki, to demonstrate the various stages in supplying a city with water, from water catchment to water consumption, and make the public aware of issues like reducing water wastage, so that they develop environmental sensitivities, especially as far as protecting the environment and water resources is concerned.

The museum has two halls where motor-machinery and electricity generators, old electricity circuit switchboards and huge pumping units are on display. The first one used to be the boiler room and had two steam-powered units which were used to pump water from 1892 until 1929. In this hall there is a detailed display showing how steam was produced to drive the steam engines in the pump house.

In the second hall are the pumps, the first and second generation diesel engines (MAN and MIRRLEES respectively), and the BRUSH electricity generators, which were used to irrigate Thessaloniki until 1978. All the machinery is authentic, has been maintained and is in good working order. In fact, one of the machines is open at the side so that visitors can see what happens inside it when it is working.

In the rest of the building there are displays of old components, measuring instruments for the water-supply network and tools used by repair teams.

Sources

40°38′30.75″N22°54′58″E / 40.6418750°N 22.91611°E / 40.6418750; 22.91611

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power station</span> Facility generating electric power

A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stationary engine</span>

A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, generators, mills or factory machinery, or cable cars. The term usually refers to large immobile reciprocating engines, principally stationary steam engines and, to some extent, stationary internal combustion engines. Other large immobile power sources, such as steam turbines, gas turbines, and large electric motors, are categorized separately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engine room</span> Space where the propulsion machinery is installed aboard a ship

On a ship, the engine room (ER) is the compartment where the machinery for marine propulsion is located. The engine room is generally the largest physical compartment of the machinery space. It houses the vessel's prime mover, usually some variations of a heat engine. On some ships, there may be more than one engine room, such as forward and aft, or port or starboard engine rooms, or may be simply numbered. To increase a vessel's safety and chances of surviving damage, the machinery necessary for the ship's operation may be segregated into various spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cogeneration</span> Simultaneous generation of electricity and useful heat

Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pumping station</span> Facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another

Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, drainage of low-lying land, canals and removal of sewage to processing sites. A pumping station is an integral part of a pumped-storage hydroelectricity installation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganz Works</span> Electrical manufacturer in Budapest, Hungary

The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head-end power</span> Electric power supply to trains by locomotives

In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive at the front or 'head' of a train, provides the electricity used for heating, lighting, electrical and other 'hotel' needs. The maritime equivalent is hotel electric power. A successful attempt by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in October 1881 to light the passenger cars on the London to Brighton route heralded the beginning of using electricity to light trains in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydraulic power network</span> System of pipes for transmitting power via pressurized liquid

A hydraulic power network is a system of interconnected pipes carrying pressurized liquid used to transmit mechanical power from a power source, like a pump, to hydraulic equipment like lifts or motors. The system is analogous to an electrical grid transmitting power from a generating station to end-users. Only a few hydraulic power transmission networks are still in use; modern hydraulic equipment has a pump built into the machine. In the late 19th century, a hydraulic network might have been used in a factory, with a central steam engine or water turbine driving a pump and a system of high-pressure pipes transmitting power to various machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Museum of Water & Steam</span> Museum in London

London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum</span> English industrial heritage museum

The Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum of Steam Power and Land Drainage is a small industrial heritage museum dedicated to steam powered machinery at Westonzoyland in the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Crosby Pumping Station</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

Mount Crosby pumping station is a heritage-listed pumping station and weir at Stumers Road, Mount Crosby, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the Brisbane River and extends into Chuwar on the other side of the river. The facility supplies water to Brisbane and nearby cities and towns within the SEQ Water Grid. It was originally designed by Charles H McLay and built from 1891 to 1892. The historic parts of the facility were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 October 2019. It is also listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register, together with numerous associated facilities which were not included in the state heritage listing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engine–generator</span> Combination of an electrical generator and an engine in a single part

An engine–generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an engine–generator set or a gen-set. In many contexts, the engine is taken for granted and the combined unit is simply called a generator. An engine–generator may be a fixed installation, part of a vehicle, or made small enough to be portable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railway Museum of Thessaloniki</span> Railway museum in Thessaloniki, Greece

The Railway Museum of Thessaloniki is a museum in Eleftherio-Kordelio, a municipality of the city of Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It was founded in 2001 and is housed in the old Military Railway Station A of the Thessaloniki-Constantinople Railway, near the current TX-3 signalbox. This historic station was built in 1891–1894 by the Italian architect Pietro Arrigoni.

Neptune Bank Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Tyne at Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. Commissioned in 1901 by the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company, the station was the first in the world to provide electricity for purposes other than domestic and street lighting. It was also the first in the world to generate electricity using three-phase electrical power distribution at a voltage of 5,500 volts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Hydraulic Power</span> Public hydraulic power network

Manchester's Hydraulic Power system was a public hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of Manchester via a system of high-pressure water pipes from three pumping stations from 1894 until 1972. The system, which provided a cleaner and more compact alternative to steam engines, was used to power workshop machinery, lifts, cranes and a large number of cotton baling presses in warehouses as it was particularly useful for processes that required intermittent power. It was used to wind Manchester Town Hall clock, pump the organ at Manchester Cathedral and raise the safety curtain at Manchester Opera House in Quay Street. A large number of the lifts and baling presses that used the system had hydraulic packings manufactured by John Talent and Co.Ltd. who had a factory at Ashworth Street, just off the Bury New Rd. close to the Salford boundary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Springfield Generating Station</span> Power plant in Massachusetts, U.S.

The West Springfield Generating Station, also known by its corporate name EP Energy Massachusetts, LLC, was a fossil-fuel-fired power plant located in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The station was a "peaking" facility, meaning that it primarily operates during peak electrical demand. The facility consisted of two 49-megawatt (MW) combustion turbine generators fueled by natural gas or ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel, one 18 MW jet turbine that was fueled by kerosene, and one 107 MW simple-cycle steam boiler unit burning no. 6 fuel oil, ULSD or natural gas. The station also had a small auxiliary boiler for process and building heat and an emergency back-up generator.

A water-returning engine was an early form of stationary steam engine, developed at the start of the Industrial Revolution in the middle of the 18th century. The first beam engines did not generate power by rotating a shaft but were developed as water pumps, mostly for draining mines. By coupling this pump with a water wheel, they could be used to drive machinery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belliss and Morcom</span>

Belliss and Morcom is a manufacturer and supplier of oil-free reciprocating compressors, technologies and services. Founded in 1852 in Birmingham, West Midlands, it is now a division of Ingersoll Rand based in Redditch, Worcestershire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workshops Rail Museum</span> Transport museum in North Ipswich Railway Workshops

The Queensland Museum Rail Workshops is a railway museum in Ipswich, Queensland, located within the former North Ipswich Railway Workshops and tells the story of more than 150 years of railways in Queensland. Exhibits are spread out across a number of the complex's original buildings housing a collection of historic steam and diesel locomotives and other rolling stock that operated on Queensland Railways, as well as general interest exhibits and ones tailored specifically for children.

Guernsey Electricity Limited (GE) is the sole commercial electricity supplier on the island of Guernsey. GE has been operating for over 100 years, moving from local generation of power from coal, and later oil, to investing in cables to connect into the grids in Jersey and France through the Channel Islands Electricity Grid.