I wonder if the pumps at Kempton Park are still connected to the water system!

Every time I look at photos of the Col. Ward station, I am amazed. The place is almost ready made as a museum, with viewing platforms, beautiful railing. With the bright interiror, large windows, viewing platform, etc., it is just a beautiful piece of industrial and civil engineering.

I also like how the engines appeared to have been "left in place." I think in someone's Photo Bucket or Flickr account, there is a photo showing a grease pail that was left on top of one of the engines, probably long long ago.

With the condensor problem, could the engines at Col. Ward be operated with compressed air instead? Maybe not authtentic, but it would still give a good taste of what it was like.

Speaking of engine preservation, wasn't there a site outside of Boston that had a large steam engine used to pump water from a nearby source? I thought the building was going to be converted to offices or something, but with the steam engine left in place.

You are thinking of Chestnut Hill Water Works. I toured this facility in, I believe, 2005. It consisted of two separate pump houses. One filled the reservoir, and the other supplied the pipes from the reservoir. I think the reservoir filler was newer (1900's), it was a classical column building with three triple expansion engines, all in flawless condition. The pressure side building was older, with a wide variety of engines and complete boiler house.

The whole place was sold to a developer for conversion to condominiums. The low pressure house was scrapped out and gutted. The historically significant high pressure house was partially scrapped. The boilers were scrapped for conversion to office/condominium. The engine room is supposed to become a museum, funded by the developer, but that has not happened to date. However, little bits of evidence show some progress, such as http://chestnut-hill-waterworks.org/jka/index.htm

This was another example of frozen in time. The place was maintained operable into the 1970's. There was a single stage air compressor with a Crown Metal rebuild plate.
The boiler room had been converted to natural gas, but the coal shed was intact with all of its conveyors and handling equipment. There were three reciprocating engines, a gas turbine, and I believe also a steam turbine, but I am foggy on that last one. The turbines are gone now. The reciprocating engines and space are to be a museum.

The reciprocating engines consist of the "Leavitt" engine, a compound grasshopper style engine, a Worthington horizontal compound, and a traditional vertical Allis-Chalmers triple expansion (just like the Buffalo engines). The Leavitt engine has been out of service since the 1930's, but is a national engineering landmark. It is really the primary argument for preserving the engines.

Some vandalism was apparent, but most of the jewelry was intact. Rust was a problem due to humidity. We believe the turning engine for the Leavitt has been stolen for a personal collection, due to evidence of cutting torch removal.

Boston was a late operator of steam. They continued to operate some triple expansion radial sewage pumps into the 1990's, because the pending changeover to new bay cleanup sewer systems made upgrade un-economic.