MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Sorry Peter but no.

[PanBiker]

Are they from a steam ship?

[Big Kev]

Were they run on methane?

[Stanley]

Sorry all but no to all. Look carefully at the 'boilers'.......

[PanBiker]

Traction Engine boilers?

[Tizer]

Two Lancashire, two Cornish?

[Stanley]

Sorry Ian but no. Peter is right, there are two Cornish and two Lancashire boilers but you haven't identified the main characteristic. Big clue.... Why are the furnace tubes blanked off with steel plates?

[Steeplejerk]

Have they been converted to oil or gas ?

[Stanley]

You're getting so near Tom I'm not going to hang you out. They are old boilers that have been converted into storage vessels for the mines compressed air system.
Next object anyone?

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Stanley]

Any takers?

[PanBiker]

Is it a safety valve or a bleed point much like on a radiator, looking at the adjustable shaft at the top?

[Stanley]

Well done Ian, it is indeed a safety valve on one end of one of the Low Pressure cylinders at Ellenroad. It is designed to relieve any excessive pressure or a slug of water if it gets in.
Next one for shaving?

[Stanley]

There's something very unusual about the tail stock on this shafting lathe at Brown and Pickles' Wellhouse shop. Can you tell me what it is?

[Stanley]

No takers?

[PanBiker]

One bit of it looks like the starting wheel on the engine at Bancroft. Was it re purposed from a redundant engine?

[Stanley]

Could be Ian but that isn't what I am after. All tailstocks have a handwheel of some sort but this one has something you don't normally see on one.

[Steeplejerk]

Is it the lever at the front of the tail stock

[Stanley]

No Tom, that's a common feature of most tail stocks... A clamp for locking the position of the quill.
Big clue, look at this end of the tail stock.....

[Stanley]

I'm knocking this on the head. Look at the rod with a ball on the end that sticks out of the back of the tail stock. This is a slide hammer for knocking out the Morse Taper centre in the front of the quill. Not very common.
Next one?

[Stanley]

Where is it? What is it called? Why is it unique?

[Tizer]

I think we've had this one before. Is it in the US? Was it made elsewhere then dropped in place?

[Tripps]

I'd love it to be the Tallahatchie Bridge, and the mystery to be what the narrator and Billie Joe threw off it.

[Wendyf]

Is it the Rainbow Bridge on Route 66 in Kansas?

[Big Kev]

If it is the Rainbow Bridge, in Kansas, is it the origin of Dorothy, her of Wizard of Oz fame, wanting to 'go somewhere over the rainbow? '