August Bank Holiday Steaming and Crofton's links to the Great Western Railway.

About

Crofton Pumping Station will be in steam and raising water for the Kenneth and Avon Canal.

Crofton was originally built to raise water for the Kennet and Avon Canal. For well over 200 years, it has carried out this work.

Perhaps surprisingly, for more than 100 years of its life Crofton was owned by the Great Western Railway. As well as Crofton pumping water for the canal during this time, it also supplied water to GWR railway locomotives. The contract that GWR signed was to provide water to the K&A Canal "in perpetuity". Indeed, if it were not for our relationship with GWR, Crofton would probably not have survived at all. To celebrate this long relationship with the railways, Crofton's mighty Beam Engines will be in steam on the Sunday and Monday of the August Bank Holiday.

In 2025, Railway 200 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the modern railway – a once in a generation opportunity to explore rail's crucial role in national life. To mark Railway 200
and our small part in the history of the railways we will have an exhibition of all things GWR at Crofton, including displays of GWR artefacts, images and a chronicled timeline of our link with the railways. Get a glimpse of our relationship with the railway engineering shop at Swindon, and how Crofton provided light relief for the Swindon apprentices. Learn about GWR's involvement, from keeping the station open to supplying Crofton with a small saddle tank engine (probably an engine called Prince) to keep the pumps going when our engines failed. Our knowledgeable volunteers will demonstrate some of the GWR tools still in use to this day, as they stoke our boiler and drive our engines so that visitors can experience the power of steam in action.

Fun for all the family: Children's activities will include a special trail guiding them round our station, seeking out our GWR tools, as well as a crafting area for children to be able use their imagination to describe, draw and even have a go at junk modelling a train. Crofton sits on a curve on the main Paddington to Penzance route via Newbury and Westbury, commuter trains pass by regularly. Catch a glimpse of them as they rush by, you will know they are coming, as they all whistle at Crofton.