Goulburn Waterworks Museum

Both this engine and the Appleby operate virtually soundlessly. The flywheel is rotating at around 20rpm.
The Goulburn Waterworks Museum is located on the banks of the Wollondilly River Participants in the run to the museum stretch their legs and compare notes on the run. As well as our MX-5s, the museum hosted a number of Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Morris Minors, and a solitary VW Beetle. Our tour guide introduces the group to the boilers, which supply the steam for the engines. The 1883 Appleby beam engine, with the engine on the left, driving the beam (obscured overhead), which in turn drives the flywheel. The two vertical steel rods power the main and secondary pumps, and the diagonal rod drives the crank pin for the flywheel.

19 May 2013 / Report and photos by Ed Cory

Canberra Chapter May run – Goulburn Waterworks Museum

Sunday 19th May dawned cool but sunny – a perfect day for a cruise in the countryside! Assembling at Gunghalin College carpark, we took some new roads out of Canberra heading for Gundaroo and our coffee stop at Gunning. The first leg was marked by a kangaroo attempting to demolish a fence all by itself but managing to avoid both the oncoming cyclist and our MX5s, as well as the obligatory U-turn. The Merino Café hosted us in Gunning, where as well as sampling the local coffee and other culinary treats, the sock counter was left lighter than when we arrived!

From Gunning we travelled over some great MX5 roads to Grabben Gullen, where we turned east and headed to Goulburn along roads used to transport the components of a new wind farm at Bannister – unfortunately this has resulted in an 80kmh speed limit, but fortunately we did not meet any of the 80 metre turbine blades on their way to the wind farm.

The Goulburn Waterworks museum is located in picturesque setting on the banks of the Wollondilly River on the northern edge of town. On arrival we were greeted by gatherings of the Rolls Royce and Bentley car club, and the Morris Minor car club – the museum is obviously a popular destination for car people!!

Our visit was timed for one of the few days a year that the museum’s historic engines are steamed. Our tour started with the source of the steam used to power the two operating engines – a good place on a cold day, not so good in summer! We then moved to the centrepiece of the museum, the 1883 Appleby beam engine, used to pump water for the Goulburn residents between 1886 and 1918. As well as being physically imposing, it is a surprisingly complex piece of engineering – and the last example of its type in the world. The other engine is even older, an 1866 Hick Hargreaves & Co (one of three left in the world) originally used in the Bulls Creek gold mine at Araluen. Both engines operate virtually silently, although they are only working in demonstration mode, not at full power.

The visit was a lesson in how things used to be done, and no-one seemed to regret the passing of the 24/7 jobs like being the fireman in the boiler room.

Lunch at the Cycle Café in Goulburn topped off our run, and after lunch the group broke up for members to return home independently.

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