Out here in the Netherlands the water levels inside the polders have risen to dangerous levels. The Ir wouda steam pump has been put into action as an auxilary pump to get water pumped away. The Wouda steam pump is the biggest currently running steam-powered pumping station in the world. I think I will go visit it in the coming days. It's quite a spectacle to see this massive pump into action!
This is the Netherlands in it's finest hour. [[Don't worry, we'll manage.)
Here's a news bulletin [[In the Frisian language!)
Some key fact from the footage:
Fifteen men keep this machine working day and night. It's capable of pumping 4500 cubic meters a minute, or roughly the complete contents of the main machine hall to put it in perspective. It was build in 1920. All labour is manual, nothing is automated. It's expected the pump will keep on running until Sunday.
The Netherlands is also the home of the largest piston driven object in the world: The Cruquius pump.
The station has lost it's function. It was used to pump the Haarlem lake dry. Once this was done, the pump was put out of action. Currently Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is in the heart of the former Haarlem lake.
The piston can however been moved up and down to show visitors how this thing actually worked. The diameter of the piston is an astonishing 144 inches or 3.7 meters!
The whole building is quite spectacular!
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