A HISTORY enthusiast is getting all steamed up about a half-ton antique pump which played an important part in Lancashire's heritage at the beginning of the century.

Bob Smalley, 52, of Queen's Street, Great Harwood, was working as a tipper on a building site in Whalley when he was told by work-mates about the pump at a Calderstones hospital building that is now being demolished to make way for a housing estate.

But when Mr Smalley saw the contraption, he knew straight away it had been used to fill a "fireless locomotive" with steam to bring wounded soldiers from Barrow near Whalley to the hospital for treatment during the Second World War.

The pump was connected up to the train which would have supplied it with up to three hours of steam, more than enough to get it to and from its destination, two miles away.

And the steam enthusiast, who owns two vintage tractors himself, is scared the 5ft-high and 18in-wide machine will be left to rust if a home is not found for it soon.

He said: "There's a lot of history around this place and it would be a real shame if it didn't find a home. It needs to go to a steam museum or somewhere similar where it can be looked after.

"The machine has probably been a fixture in the boiler house ever since it was built and it would be a sad thing if it were to waste away."

"I talked to Ashworth's Demolition who are working on the site and they told me they would be prepared to find a shed for it.

"But it will just rust away and be forgotten unless we find it a proper home."

Managing Director of Clitheroe based Ashworth's Demolition, Alan Ashworth, said: "We technically own the pump but I am happy for Bob to help find a home for it. It is certainly the most unusual thing we have come across.

"But for the time being, we will take it to our yard in Church and put it under cover under a proper home is found."

"I'm a bit of a steam buff myself and I don't like seeing things like this going to waste."

Phil Atkins, librarian at the National Railway Museum in York, said Mr Smalley's findings were probably true.

He said: "This system was used in places where it wasn't safe to light fires, such as a munitions factory or a hospital. There were 161 of them built in this country and a few are on display at museums around the UK. We have one too.

"The first examples of this type of system wee built in 1912 and the final one in 1962. None have been used in this country since the sixties but the East Germans were using them as recently as 20 years ago.

"We have a records of a machine which was ordered by what was known as Calderstone Institution for Defectives in 1925."

Anyone who wants to offer a home for the contraption can call Mr Smalley on 0780 3569783.