Located on the edge of the Postley Levels in South Wessex, the pumping station was constructed for the Postley Levels Internal Drainage Board in order to drain the low lying valley and reclaim it from the sea.

Photographs © Miles Bevan

Of course, when the pumping station was first built, there were no habitations nearby, so the pumping station took it’s name from the nearby crossroads, the main road of which led over the hill to the village of Pynford.

However, the roads in question weren’t up to much, so to assist in transporting supplies to the site, and to subsequently keep the pumping engine supplied with fuel, a 40cm gauge railway was supplied on the French system Decauville.

It ran from the closest railway, which passed some two miles away to the east, near the village of Pynford. The narrowness of the gauge was surprising – especially considering the sizes of some of the components for the pumping engines – but resulted in a line that produced almost no intrusion onto the landscape. Visitors to the area were often surprised by the presence of a small train sidling alongside a hedgerow, where no train would normally be expected.

Originally the line was operated by horses, but a 10hp steam locomotive was soon obtained through the original suppliers, although it was actually constructed in Germany to typically German ‘well tank’ design.

The model represents the western end of the ‘Postley Tramway’, as it came to be known, and features the locomotive shed and workshop, as well as the back end of the much larger Boiler House, into which the full coal wagons are shunted for unloading into the low level bunkers. The Engine House, containing the pumping engines, is off stage to the right - the tramway originally extended to that building during the construction works, but due to disuse since then has subsequently been buried under the mud in the yard. The track might still be there …

As usual with Victorian engineering, the architecture is quite ornate for an industrial building. The brickwork used on both the buildings visible was the result of an attempt to produce ‘artificial Portland Stone’, an experiment with mixed results. The roofs were covered with lead sheeting.