There is another pumping station at Welches Dam, which pumps water from the Counter Drain and lower Old Bedford River through the Middle Level Barrier Bank and into the River Delph. This was constructed in the 1940s and commissioned in December 1948. It was designed by W F Pattison, the Mechanical Engineer of the Great Ouse Catchment Board, who died prior to the completion of the project. The catchment board wanted to prevent water in the lower Old Bedford River overflowing its banks, particularly when the Old Bedford Sluice was blocked by higher water levels in the tidal Great Ouse. A pumping station was seen as a cheaper option than raising the banks of the river for its entire length, and siting it at Welches Dam, between the outflow of the Manea and Welney District Drainage Commissioners and the Sutton and Mepal Internal Drainage Board, meant that the head against which the water had to be pumped was less than it would have been if it had been situated near the Old Bedford Sluice. It was sized to pump 750 tons per minute, based on each of the drainage districts producing 300 tons per minute and a flow of 150 tons per minute from the higher areas of land into Cranbrook Drain. This was achieved by installing two Allen diesel engines and pumps. One of the diesel engines was replaced by a Perkins engine in 1998, which was connected to the original pump by a reduction gearbox. The Allen engine was sold, and both pumpsets lasted until 2011, when the second Allen engine was given to the Internal Fire Museum of Power, based at Tanygroes, Ceredigion. The diesel engines were replaced by electrical pumps, supplied by Bedford Pumps, but the maximum amount of power available meant that the total output of the station was reduced by around one fifth.
There is another pumping station at Welches Dam, which pumps water from the Counter Drain and lower Old Bedford River through the Middle Level Barrier Bank and into the River Delph. This was constructed in the 1940s and commissioned in December 1948. It was designed by W F Pattison, the Mechanical Engineer of the Great Ouse Catchment Board, who died prior to the completion of the project. The catchment board wanted to prevent water in the lower Old Bedford River overflowing its banks, particularly when the Old Bedford Sluice was blocked by higher water levels in the tidal Great Ouse. A pumping station was seen as a cheaper option than raising the banks of the river for its entire length, and siting it at Welches Dam, between the outflow of the Manea and Welney District Drainage Commissioners and the Sutton and Mepal Internal Drainage Board, meant that the head against which the w,ater had to be pumped was less than it would have been if it had been situated near the Old Bedford Sluice. It was sized to pump 750 tons per minute, based on each of the drainage districts producing 300 tons per minute and a flow of 150 tons per minute from the higher areas of land into Cranbrook Drain. This was achieved by installing two Allen diesel engines and pumps. One of the diesel engines was replaced by a Perkins engine in 1998, which was connected to the original pump by a reduction gearbox. The Allen engine was sold, and both pumpsets lasted until 2011, when the second Allen engine was given to the Internal Fire Museum of Power, based at Tanygroes, Ceredigion. The diesel engines were replaced by electrical pumps, supplied by Bedford Pumps but the maximum amount of power available meant that the total output of the station was reduced by around one fifth.