Derby and Derbyshire webcams updated.

I maintain a list of all the current webcams I have found that feature content from within the city of Derby and the County of Derbyshire as well as Staffordshire webcams.
I have just updated my Derby webcam list as quite a few have now gone offline but I have included some new ones that you may not have seen before.

See my local webcams here :
Webcams in Derby and Derbyshire

For each webcam I have listed what type of webcam footage it offers and if you need to install a Browser plug-in to view them and if they work on an iPhone. Live webcams are great for checking out the weather if you are about to travel somewhere as you can see for yourself if its raining or snowing etc.

The most popular webcam in Derby is of course the Peregrine Falcons on Derby Cathedral, this webcam has been in place since 2006 and attracts online visitors from around the world and is extremely popular.

Derby needs some more webcams, can you help by providing a webcam stream for the city?
We only have 2 webcams in Derby, that's very poor ! I'm sure we can do better than that !

Just think of how many people out there in Derby who have permanent broadband connections and a computer that is "always on" and have a nice view out of their window.
Also lots of businesses around Derby that could have a webcam to generate publicity for their company, How about a pub cam?

Its so easy to setup a webcam these days it would be great if we could put Derby on the "webcam map". In recent years it has become possible to buy what is known as an IP Webcam which is the simplest method of getting a webcam online.

All you have to do with an IP Webcam is connect it directly (via Ethernet cable) or wifi to your Broadband Router, it has its own web server built in. you just configure the camera via a webpage and thats it ready to go live !


I have had to remove several webcams as they have gone offline, I will add them back again if they return. The following have been removed.

1) Mercia Marina in Willington. Dead ! UPDATE 31/10 Reinstated as link now updated and working.
2) Ram FM, Iron Gate, Derby. Taken over by Capital FM
3) Broomfield College bird feeders. A real shame this one has gone as it was one of the best webcams.
4) Hathersage, Gone !

If YOU know of any webcams in Derby or Derbyshire that I have missed or one that you have just set up and want promoting then please get in touch with all the details and I will add it to my list for you.

While looking for other local webcams I found a new one in Derby but then realised its actually a Derby in the USA.

Live streaming webcam in Derby, Wichita, Kansas.
This is a view of their New Derby Public Library at 1600 E. Walnut Grove. A pity we don't have a live webcam of Derby library !

I have added a few new local webcams, I will let you see if you can spot them.
On my Stafforshire webcams page I have added a live webcam of Burton on Trent, this has a great view of High Street where the infamous Burton Bollard is located.

See my current webcams list here :
Webcams in Derby and Derbyshire

Thanks
Andy
www.derbyphotos.co.uk

Claymills Pumping Station receives an Engineering Heritage Award.

I went to see Claymills pumping station "in steam" on Sunday, If you like Victorian engineering then do try and visit this place you will really enjoy it.

I see that they recently won an award, its an Engineering Heritage award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. See my photograph of the plaque here :



The engine is next in steam on Saturday & Sunday February 26th & 27th (10.00 am - 5.00 pm)
Here are the next steaming dates after that...
Easter:     April     24th, 25th
Spring Bank Holiday:       May     29th, 30th
August Bank Holiday:       August     28th, 29th
September:     September    24th, 25th
October:     October     15th, 16th

If you go on one of their free tours ask to see the "secret bath", this is not on the main tour you have to ask to see it.

Admission prices on Steaming Days:
Adults £4 Concessions £3 Children £2 Family £10

The Museum is also open for static viewing on Thursdays (10:00am - 3:00pm) and Saturdays (10:00am - 5:00pm) When admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

How do I get there from Derby?
Claymills is just an 8 Minute drive down the A38 from Derby (The A5111 Kingsway Island). If you are using a Sat Nav then use the postcode “DE13 ODA” to get to the end of Meadow Lane.

Once there you need to drive straight over the level crossing, assuming the gates are up :) then follow the road around until you come to a left turn at which you need to drive straight on, eventually this road will take you to the car park. Once parked up you need to walk back the way you drove in and look for the Gatehouse entrance to Claymills pumping station.


View Claymills pumping station, Burton upon Trent. in a larger map

For more information on Claymills Pumping Station please visit their website:

www.claymills.org.uk

If you have never been to this place before and like Victorian engineering then get yourself along to the next open day. Post your comments to this blog post if you enjoyed your visit there

Thanks
Andy

Video of Lara Croft Way, Derby Inner Ring Road and new road layouts.

This is the latest video in my “Derby Streets by car in HD” series, this one is a short car journey that encompasses all of the latest new roads and road changes relating to the Connecting Derby project on Derby Inner Ring Road.
These Roads are either newly opened or one way roads that have become two way.
Lara Croft Way is a newly constructed road where as the parts of Normanton Road and Burton Road were previously one way roads, these are now two way roads.

Lara Croft Way opened in two stages one direction on 11th May 2010 and the other way on 27th July 2010.

Because these are new roads they are not on Google Maps or Google Streetview.

However I have generated a detailed map showing the new roads and how they connect to form the new Derby inner ring road. I have also made a 360 degree interactive panoramic photograph near the traffic island at Lara Croft Way (a-la Google Streetview).

Also the driving video I have made here will allow you to see how it all connects together. This video was filmed at 7am on Wednesday 28th July 2010 which is why there is little traffic on the roads, giving a better view than queuing traffic!

Lara Croft Way Driving video

If you have a fast broadband connection and high-end PC then best to view in 720p HD and fullscreen.
The driving Video Route Details.
The drive starts on Burton Road (A5250) heading into Derby. On the right side you can see Mount Street which is where (up until 27/07/2010) you would rejoin the inner ring road in the clockwise direction. As you can see this section of Burton Road is now two way.

On the right we pass The Duke of York Pub.

We now arrive at the new Round-a-bout, this connects the following roads.

Burton Road (two way)
Mercian Way (not yet open), the next section of the inner ring road.
Green Lane (one way)
Babington Lane (one way)
Lara Croft Way (two way)
Normanton Road (two way)
At this round-a-bout I take the 4th exit onto Lara Croft Way, This is a brand new road which forms part of the final link of Derby Inner Ring Road. Lara Croft Way cuts through former streets such as Sacheverel Street and Wilmot Street. Lara Croft Way then connects to the existing round-a-bout on Osmaston Road.

The Osmaston Road round-a-bout connects the following roads:
Lara Croft Way (two way)
Osmaston Road A514 towards the Spot (two way)
Bradshaw Way A601, (two way) Existing inner ring road.
Osmaston Road A514 (two way) towards Allenton.
Charnwood Street (one way) now closed off.
Leopold Street (one way) now closed off.
Lara Croft Way

At the Osmaston Road round-a-bout I take the 4th exit which takes me back up Lara Croft Way in the other direction. At this round-a-bout I take left into Normanton Road. This section of Normanton Road used to be one way, as you can see its now two way. On the left is Leopold Street which is the way you used to go to get onto the inner ring road, Leopold Street was closed off on Tuesday 11th May 2010 when Lara Croft Way opened up in one direction only.

At the Charnwood Street junction you would normally see inner ring road traffic coming from the left but Charnwood Street is now blocked off at the Osmaston Road end.

Here on Normanton Road I turn right into Southgate Retail Park (Lidl) and do a u-turn in the entrance and head back onto Normanton Road towards Derby centre.

Notice here on the left that the slip road leading to Mill Hill Lane has been closed off, instead Normanton Road has become two way. So as of July 27th the Mill Hill Lane/Mount Street/Burton Road/Normanton Road loop part of the Old Inner Ring road is now no longer needed.

You are now allowed to drive Down Normanton Road in the other direction.

At the round-a-bout I turn left onto Burton Road which is now two way. It feels very strange being able to drive down this bit of Burton Road in this direction after all the years of it being one way.
Here we rejoin Burton Road where Mount Street used to join with it.

Detailed Driving Route Map:

View Lara Croft Way, Derby Inner Ring Road Driving video Route in a larger map

On the first day of these new roads opening I was stuck in horrendous queues of traffic but I think once the Derby City council have adjusted the traffic light sequences at Lara Croft Way then this new section of the inner ring road will help a lot. I look forward to seeing the remaining section of the inner ring road opening between Lara Croft Way and Ford Street, this will complete Derby Inner Ring Road

Hope you enjoyed this little trip.
Andy

Claymills Pumping Station, see this magnificent Victorian beam engine in steam.

Have you ever seen Leawood Pumping station in Steam, or are a fan of Victorian engineering and TV programs about such things by Fred Dibnah and Mark Williams then I highly recommend visiting Claymills Pumping Station. You will absolutely love it and its only a few minutes drive out of Derby in our neighbouring town of Burton on Trent.

Below is a photograph I took when I visited on May Bank Holiday, its shows one of the two restored Gimson 13 ton Beam engines as seen from the top floor of C/D Engine House.

Read on for details....

The pumping station is maintained and run by a dedicated team of volunteers who give up their time and effort to restore the site for the public to see.

There is plenty for you to see when visiting...
There are two engine houses, one of them houses two fully restored Gimson steam engines that you will see operating. The other engine house has yet to be restored and when you walk around that one it makes you appreaciate just how much work as gone into restoring the other engine house.
Between the two engine houses is the boiler house, with five Lancashire boilers. These boliers date from 1937 and replaced the original boilers.
The Dynamo house which houses the oldest electrical generating equipment in the UK.
The is a Blacksmiths and a Joiners shop where you can see items being made.
There is a small Tea Rooms which includes a visitor centre and toilets.
On steam days there are vintage cars to look at and you can go one a ride on a small steam engine.
This pumping station site is Grade II listed and is described by English Heritage as “The most complete site of its kind in the UK”

Why was Claymills built:
The town of Burton upon Trent had a more acute problem of sewage disposal in the mid 1800's than any other town or city in Britain, due to the large number of breweries situated in the area. The brewing processes generated a large quantity of foul smelling, high temperature, sulphate rich effluent which also contained a lot of suspended matter. This was all discharged into local brooks and streams, which became open sewers, until eventually the crude sewage ran into the River Trent.

It was decided to build a pumping station on the site of the sedimentation tanks to pump the effluent some 2¼ miles to a sewage farm which would be built to deal with the sewage. The Burton on Trent Corporation obtained an act of Parliament in 1880 allowing them to execute these works.
The site has four Woolf compound rotatative beam pumping engines located in two seperate engine houses.

Here is a list of dates when Claymills Pumping Station is open.
June Open Days 19th & 20th June (Engines are not in steam)
July Open Days 10th & 11th, 24th & 25th July (Engines are not in steam
August Bank Holiday 29th & 30th August
Heritage Open Days 11th & 12th September (Engines are not in steam)
September 25th & 26th September
October 16th & 17th October
New Year 2nd & 3rd January 2011

So the NEXT "steaming day" at Claymills is August Bank Holiday: Sunday & Monday August 29th & 30th (10.00 am - 5.00 pm)

Admission prices on Steaming Days:
Adults £4 Concessions £3 Children £2 Family £10

The Museum is also open for static viewing on Thursdays (10:00am - 3:00pm) and Saturdays (10:00am - 5:00pm) When admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.

How do I get there from Derby?
Claymills is just an 8 Minute drive down the A38 from Derby (The A5111 Kingsway Island). If you are using a Sat Nav then use the postcode “DE13 ODA” to get to the end of Meadow Lane.

Once there you need to drive straight over the level crossing, assuming the gates are up :) then follow the road around until you come to a left turn at which you need to drive straight on, eventually this road will take you to the car park. Once parked up you need to walk back the way you drove in and look for the Gatehouse entrance to Claymills pumping station.

See my map below for exact details, Use the link below to the map to get a large map that you can print out and take with you.


View Claymills pumping station, Burton upon Trent. in a larger map

This pumping station is maintained by The Claymills Pumping Engines Trust Ltd, Meadow Lane, Stretton, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, U.K.



For more information on Claymills Pumping Station please visit their website:

http://www.claymills.org.uk/

If you have never been to this place before and like Victorian engineering then get yourself along to the next open day. Post your comments to this blog post if you enjoyed your visit there.

Andy