Amesterdam, NL: 1852 Stoomgemaal Halfweg, World's Largest and Still-Operating Steam Powered Paddlewheel Pump

(Satellite)

Sjoerd Peerlkamp, Nov 2019

The flywheel in the above photo is the brass wheel on the other side of the men and gauges. The two black wheels are reduction gears.

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The boiler must be in the building on the left. The steam engine would be in the center of the building on the right. The six "black openings" contain the paddle wheels.

Street View, Nov 2022

I amsterdam posted

🤩 In the Flower Region you’ll find a unique monument: the Halfweg Steam Pumping Station. From 1852 to 1977, it pumped seepage and rainwater from 170 (!) polders into the sea, and today, it proudly stands as part of the Netherlands’ industrial heritage. 💧

😮 Fun fact: It’s the oldest and largest paddle wheel steam pumping station in the world that’s still in operation!

It is a low-lift, high-flow pump.

expatshaarlemmermeer
The 500 hp steam engine dates from 1923. I wonder how the paddles were powered between 1852 and 1923.

It looks like they completely rebuilt the facility to add the newer steam engine.

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor
[Since 1500/60 = 25, I think the last paragraph specifies that it could pump 25 cubic meters/sec or 883cfs.]

I found an English translation of the above plaque.

The Halfweg steam pumping station was built in 1852 and operated as a reservoir pumping station until April 20, 1977. The original pumping station consisted of the engine house, with the housing for the scoop wheels on either side.

The first 100-hp engine was replaced by a more powerful one in 1888. The paddle wheels were also enlarged. Because increased steam production became necessary, the current boiler house had to be built in 1888, in which four Lancashire boilers were installed. In 1923, the steam engine and its four boilers were replaced by the installation still in place today, consisting of two Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers and a 500-hp steam engine. Both the boilers and the engine were built by the engineering company Gebrs Stork & Co. in Hengelo.

Boiler 1 has been stripped of its brickwork, revealing the interior. Boiler 2 is operational and is still regularly fired with coal, allowing the steam engine to come into operation.

The paddle wheels have a diameter of 7.5 m and a width of 2 m. They can discharge 25 m³ of water per second, or 1,500 m³ per minute, 90,000 m³ per hour, and 2,160,000 m³ per day.

[hmdb]

fietsnetwerk

"Steam pumping station Halfweg is a scoop wheel steam pumping station dating from 1852 and is the oldest and largest scoop wheel steam pumping station in the world that is still active. After draining the Haarlemmermeer in 1852, the Rijnland Water Board had nowhere to store the excess water. To be able to drain off that water as quickly as possible, three secondary steam pumping stations were built of which Halfweg was one. The steam pumping station was in operation until 1977. In those 125 years, it moved a total of 14 billion cubic metres of water and used 40,000 tonnes of coal to do so.

"Since 1986, the Friends of Steam Pumping Station Halfweg Foundation has been responsible for its maintenance and use as a national monument. Prince Claus reopened the steam pumping station in 1987 after a thorough restoration and since that day, the pumping station has been running under steam for the public several days a year. Add this piece of Dutch history and hydraulic engineering to your cycling route and check the website for the current steam days."

This is what was in front of the Prince Claus in the above photo.

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Evidently, if you rent the event space, you can start up the engine:

Are you looking for a unique location for meetings, presentations, business events or tourist visits, with a terrace on the waterfront? Then look no further than the steam-powered pumping station at Halfweg, the world’s oldest and biggest still operational scoop-wheel pumping station.

Experience how large parts of the Netherlands have been reclaimed from the water and kept dry to this day at this fine example of industrial heritage. Surprise your guests with a visit to the engine room with its monumental 500 hp steam engine and gigantic paddle-wheels capable of pumping 1.5 million litres of water per minute! On request, the mighty steam engine is set in motion and one of your guests can turn the big wheel to open the steam valve. An unforgettable experience! The museum offers various catering options, as well as audio and video equipment and free WiFi. The boiler house, the venue for receptions and presentations, hosts up to 100 people.

[stoomgemaalhalfweg]

A better view of the flywheel and reduction gears.

Harm Franzen, Jul 2019

This is the inlet side. The paddles go down here.

Sjoerd Peerlkamp, Nov 2019

And this is the outlet side with the paddles going up.

Tommas Roos, Jul 2023

And the water comes out here.

Madelon Kooiman, Nov 2019

A closeup of the shaft and one of the bearings.

Franklin Hoogreef, Oct 2020

And a view on the opposite side of the engine shows how the shaft goes through the entire pump house.

Jaap van Herk, Sep 2023

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Florala, AL: Restaurant/L&N Depot and Steam Engine

(Satellite)

Kelly Veasey posted three photos with the comment: "Eating an early dinner at the old depot in Florala AL, can anyone tell me what the large pulley out by the old tracks was for?"

Bill Ray: Robert Tomb it came from Sam Jackson's veneer mill in Laurel Hill.

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2

3

Note the steam engine on the other side of the flat belt drive pully.

Street View, Mar 2024

Jim Perva commented on Kelly's post

Kelly Veasey provided five more photos in the comments.

1
[The drive pully makes the flywheel look small.]

2

3

4

5

Darlington, UK: 1849 Tees Cottage Pumping Station

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2025

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TeesCottage_beam
"The original 1849 Beam Engine ran until 1907, when it was replaced by a small Gas Engine. The Beam Engine which you can see today was installed in 1904 and, as one of the last Beam Engines built, represented the pinnacle of Beam Engine technology.
"It is a Woolf compound rotative Beam Engine of 140 indicated horsepower (IHP) which can run between 9 and 16 revolutions per minute. During its working life, supplying the town, it will have averaged about 12 rpm giving a total of 140 million revolutions. At that speed it would deliver 1900 gallons (8640 litres) of river water into the filters and 1700 gallons (7730 litres or 21 standard bath tubs) into the town every minute. The cast iron beam is 30 feet 3 inches (9.2 metres) long and weighs 25 tons. 
"The flywheel is also made of cast iron and is 21 feet (6.4 metres) in diameter and weighs 14.5 tons."

Joanne Storey, Sep 2021

TeesCottage_about
"In 1849 Tees Cottage Pumping Station revolutionised the water supply to Darlington by offering cleaner, piped water to homes and businesses which had previously relied on contaminated ground wells, polluted rivers, and rainwater tubs. In 1851, recognising the health benefits of a clean water supply, the customer base was extended to also supply Stockton, Middlesbrough and Yarm.
"Our 1904 Beam Engine still pumps water using steam raised in its original coal-fired 1902 Lancashire boilers. Alongside it, our 1914 Gas Engine remains one of the largest preserved historic gas engines still in its original location — and it, too, can still pump water. We also have our 1926 Electric Pumps, these don't run anymore but are preserved in situ and cosmetically restored - making Tees Cottage one of the only pumping station museums able to display and preserve all three historic methods of water pumping: steam, internal combustion, and electricity."

This shows how the cranks are out-of-phase by 120 degrees . Do they have a triple expansion steam pump as well as a beam engine?

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Mark Gund: 1927 Pistil and Stamen Aster Blaster, very rare!

[Some comments indicate that it can pump at 7rpm.]

Baltimore, MD: 1912 Eastern Avenue Sewage Pumping Station

(Satellite)

The building still has its smokestack.

Street View, Jun 2011

Street View, Sepo 2023

Part of it is now a public works museum.

Street View, Jun 2019

Back when it received coal from barges.

Image via pwexperience

Matt Finlay, Oct 2019

pwexperience

pwexperience

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Detroit, MI: 1903 DTE/Detroit Edison Delray Power Plant and Willis Avenue Steam Plant

Delray: (Satellite, it was this substation and peaker plant land. [DetroitHistorical])

Willis: (Satellite)

Detroit Edison was incorporated in 1903 and built the Delray Plant to provide electricity and the Willis Avenue Plant to pioneer district steam heating. 

Delray Electric Plant 1

Detroit Edison was on the leading edge of providing district steam heating, but it was on the following edge for providing electricity because in 1903 ComEd built the Fisk Power Plant using steam turbines instead of reciprocating steam engines. This photo must have been at the pinnacle of using steam engines for electricity production.

Detroit Historical Society posted
On January 20, 1903, the Detroit Edison Company, now part of DTE Energy, was incorporated. Pictured here is the Engine and Dynamo Room of a Detroit power plant in 1903. Two rows of belt-driven dynamos (left) are being powered by a single row of steam engines (right).

William H. Grunow: Henry Ford worked for Detroit Edison as a young man.

dteenergy
Delray 2 Power Plant was built in 1908. I wonder if it used engines or turbines.

There is still an industrial building at the Delray site. I wonder what it did and what it does.

Street View, Aug 2024

Willis Avenue Steam Plant

asme
ASME uses the Willis Avenue plant as an example of an early SU district heating plant.
"The concept of heating a number of buildings in the core area of a city from a single heating plant was introduced into the United States by Birdsill Holly at Lockport, New York, in 1877. The gain in thermal efficiency of a single large steam plant over a series of small, isolated boilers led to widespread commercial installation of district heating. Organized by the Detroit Edison Company, the Central Heating Company began service here in 1903, supplying twelve customers with steam piped from the Edison Company's Willis Avenue Plant. Today's greatly enlarged system continues in operation. The Beacon Street plant, commissioned in 1926, is representative of most district heating plants."

Because it is important that steam district plants be close to the buildings that they are heating, they survive into the 21st Century.

Street View, Sep 2018

This is the 1926 Beacon Street Plant.

Street View, Sep 2023

I presume the steam generating plants use natural gas today. But I wondered which railroad supplied coal to the Willis Ave. Plant in 1903. I could not find any tracks near the plant. In fact, I could not find the plant.

1918 Detroit Quad @ 62,500

I thought about counting blocks along Woodward Ave. from Adams Ave because that half circle is obvious on the topo maps. But then I remembered that the topo map viewer allows me to control the percentage of two maps that are bled together. It is a testament to the accuracy of the USGS surveyors that the contemporary street names almost land on the 1918 streets. This makes it easy to spot where the building should have been marked. I still don't understand how the plant got its coal. Did it use manufactured gas in 1903?

1/3 1918 Detroit Quad @ 62,500 and 2/3 contemporary maps.

The steam plants are now owned by Detroit Thermal, and this is their service area.

DetroitThermal

Lorain, OH: Thew Shovel Co, first fully revolving steam shovel invented in 195

(Satellite)

danielebrady, Courtesy Dennis Lamont
Undated aerial photo of Thew Shovel

danielebrady
July 1949 newspaper ad
"Captain Thew designed and built the first full-revolving power shovel in 1895." The company was incorporated in 1989. "Today Thew's position as the world's largest producer of commercial size power shovels and cranes is proof of the continued leadership of its products."

Digitally Zoomed

Captain Thew invented a shovel that did not need railroad tracks so that an iron ore dock could be cleaned up more quickly. The company's line of shovels was redesigned in 1924, and the Lorain trademark was introduced. [ConstructionEquipment]

Fred Schwiers commented on a post:

The company credited with developing the first practical steam-powered shovel with a full 360° rotating cab (i.e., a full-swing steam shovel) in the United States was the Thew Automatic Shovel Company of Lorain, Ohio. Captain Richard P. Thew invented and built a fully revolving steam shovel prototype around 1895, and this design became the first successful full-revolving steam excavator built in America.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Earlier steam shovels (like those invented by William Otis in 1839) could dig but did not rotate a full 360°; they were “partial-swing” machines mounted on rail chassis.

The full-swing (360°) steam shovel concept was developed in England in 1884, but the first practical and commercially successful fully revolving steam shovel in the U.S. was produced by Thew Automatic Shovel Co. in the mid-1890s.

So the best answer is: Thew Automatic Shovel Company (founded by Richard P. Thew).

eBay
1927 Thew Shovel Co. Ad: Lorain 75 Shovel, Crane, Dragline - Lorain, OhiO

The Lorain Model 80 was built 1939-55. This one was built in 1940. The engine has been removed, thus we can see the center drive.

9:59 video @ 7:31
Thew-Lorain 80 Documentary

I don't remember seeing a Thew Shovel, but I have.

Matt Weyand commented on Mark's post via Dennis DeBruler
It appears to be a Thew shovel with horizontal crowd. The structure on the underside of the boom gives it away.

While I was getting an aerial photo, I included the steel mill and the B&O railyard.

Apr 1, 1952 @ 28,400; AR1UM0000010175

Zooming into this plant.

Digitally Zoomed