Tag: underground

July 20th – I’m fascinated at the moment by continuing work going on at the sewage pumping station at Green Lane in Walsall Wood. Ever since last Easter, there has been work being carried out here sporadically; from tankers pumping manholes out to new pumps going in and old ones being removed.

I know there’s quite a bit of plant below ground here, presumably to pump the sewage up the hill to the sewage works, not 400 yards away towards Clayhanger. 

I noted this evening yet another pump awaiting installation in the little roadside compound. I have no idea what the problem is, but it’s fascinating watching the comings and goings to fix it.

So many ‘invisible’ services support modern life, it can be a surprise to see how intensively they’re maintained.

October 22nd – Spotted in Darlaston after a tipoff by [Howmuch?] – what I must presume to be a World War Two air raid shelter. Just opposite the police station on the edge of Victoria Park, by the Table Tennis Club hut (itself a remnant of life during wartime, perhaps) not really concealed at all, but easy to miss. Two blocked entrances hint at what lies beneath.

I find is surprising and unusual that such a public curiosity survives.

Do any of the Darlaston contingent who read this know more about it? Is there a shelter down there still, or has it been infilled? How big ws it? Was it public, or just for the boys in blue over the way?

A fascinating thing.