bearings and stays. In the 1840s the trussing was changed from stays to tension rods to strengthen and lighten the wheel, along with improvements to the pumps. The changes to the wheel were unsuccessful, and in the 1850s a central bearing was added, dividing the wheel in two. The opening of the Great Western Railway in 1841 led to a significant decline in the canal's traffic, even though the canal company lowered tariffs. In 1852 the railway company took over the canal's operation. In 1877 the canal recorded a deficit of £1,920 and never subsequently made a profit. The Somerset Coal Canal and Wilts & Berks Canal, which each supplied some of the trade to the Kennet and Avon, including freight from the Somerset coalfield, closed in 1904 and 1906 respectively. At Claverton various minor repairs were needed to the wheel and pump, and the wheel had to be levelled at regular intervals during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 408 "green oak" teeth on the pit wheel also had to be replaced several times. In 1926, following a loss of £18,041 the previous year, the Great Western Railway sought to close the canal by obtaining a Ministry of Transport Order, but the move was resisted and the company charged with improving its maintenance of the canal. After the Second World War the Transport Act of 1947 meant that control of the canal passed to the British Transport Commission, but by the 1950s large sections had been closed because of poor lock maintenance following a breach in the bank west of the Avoncliff Aqueduct. Claverton Pumping Station ceased operation in 1952, after the failure of a number of the pit wheel's oak teeth. The British Transport Commission installed a centrifugal pump to maintain the statutory minimum water level. Restoration After its closure the pumping station lay derelict until the late 1960s, when the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust proposed to the British Waterways Board that students from the University of Bath conduct a survey and report on the viability of returning the pumping station to working order. Work started in 1969 with engineering students from Bath providing the labour under the supervision of John Butt, and the trust providing the funding. Within the building, rotten woodwork was replaced and electric lighting installed. To allow work on the sluices and the waterwheel the leat was dammed.