STEAM ENGINES AND WATERWHEELS

[PanBiker]

Surprised you can't remember the cafe David, we're a similar age and I can, Belford's I believe. It's a fascinating picture with lots of history for that part of town. Do you remember the Crow Nest fire, you can still see the smoke stains above the bricked up windows on Skipton Road. I remember standing on the bridge watching the firemen tackle Yorkshire Plush when that was ablaze as well. The fires were always a draw for all the kids in Barlick. You can see the engine test beds at the back of the factory as well. You could see the heat haze generated from all over town when they were running the jets up. Cant see the upturned exhaust ports on the picture though, they may not have been built when the photo was taken. I might have a look at Mario Maps, they have a 1960 aerial view I think.

[David Whipp]

My memory must be pretty rubbish Ian!

The Mario aerial photo looks like it's later than the one Stanley's posted here and the test beds at Rolls can be seen clearly.

These massive exhaust pipes were a big enough feature to figure clearly even in my memory... Our house (where I was brought up and live now) overlooks Rolls from the top of the picture. When a lad, the whole house shook with the vibration of the engines being tested and we had many a window cracked. A later test bed had a vertical exhaust pipe - we thought it was for VTO engines.

This area of Rolls-Royce has been redeveloped with a succession of newer buildings extending alongside the canal to beyond Banks Bridge, the accommodation bridge seen top left in the picture.

On the opposite bank of the canal beyond Banks Bridge, Whitworth Way has been built. This was given planning approval back in BUDC days, but not built for several decades - a planning permission kept alive by making a nominal start on the scheme.

In the fields above the canal coming back towards Skipton Road are my dad's hen pens. One of the hen huts (left of the Bankfield chimney, nearest the canal) is still there. However, the new owner of the land wants it moved - I'm not sure it'll survive shifting!

To the right of Bankfield chimney, there's the wooden bungalow occupied by Betty(?) near the canal. Bank House is pictured level with the top of the chimney. The growth of trees throughout this area during the last 50 or 60 years is very noticeable.

Top right of the picture, you get a glimpse of the Rolls Welfare buildings - when did they stop being used for hostel accommodation?

At the foot of the photo, the northlight shed at Crow Nest still existing is likely to go soon as part of the redevelopment plans for the mill. Above that to the left in the picture, it looks like the car park at Rolls is starting to be built. At the time the picture was taken, but out of view coming towards the photographer, the company's bus station on Skipton Road - next to West Close Road - would still be the way hundreds of workers got to and from the factory.

[Stanley]

That one got you going didn't it! Thanks Ian for reminding me it was Belford that ran the café. I used to deliver their milk early in the morning and can still remember the smell of frying fat that hung about in the interior when you opened the front door.



In the latter days of steam, places like Bancroft were popular with enthusiasts. This man, in 1977, worked for Trinity House and looked exactly like Christie the murderer!

[Bodger]

Stanley, enjoy, steam powered box mill
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_mKSKZ ... W13wrjpR4g

[Stanley]

I liked that! Mind you, a bit of oil in the banjo lubricator wouldn't go amiss! There's some play in the crank pin as well..... Noticed that the dog had half its tail missing.....

[David Whipp]

Noticed that the dog had half its tail missing.....

A wonder only half with all the open belts!

[Bodger]

another link to the erection and start up of a steel sheet rolling mill 1960 Consett
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8DWizSJ ... ata_player

[Stanley]

I sent the Oregon mill film to my mate Bob who was born there. He liked it..... Still lots to be said for running engines off the waste products of the industry they are powering. Lots of sugar mills used to burn bagasse, the residue of the canes after extracting the sugar. Still some running I think.



John Ingoe's Annie was built as a straw-burner for Argentina but never exported. She had a very large firebox, 3" tubes and a small trapdoor in the side of the box so you could clear the bird's nests off the ends of the tubes where partially burned straw used to collect and block the tubes.

[Stanley]

Road rollers like this were a common sight on the streets in the early part of the 20th century. Barlick bought a similar roller to this model in 1898.

[Stanley]

Bit off piste but tar boilers like this one were a common sight in any road repairs.

[Stanley]

Jim Sutton paying his last respects to Bancroft engine in 1978 just before the shed closed down. Jim had spent his life round engines and boilers and for years was owner and operator of Weldone in Brierfield, the best flue chaps in the business.

[Stanley]

I don't know where this engine was.

[Stanley]

A Wood Brothers twin tandem. Mill unknown. I have an idea this is one of George Watkins' pictures.

[Stanley]

Burnley Ironworks shop in 1917.

[Stanley]

Dead simple. Pop that beam up on those girders. Building the Whitelees Beam Engine, February 1992.

[Stanley]

In 1991 we started to sink the pit for the Whitelees engine at Ellenroad. Unfortunately the contractor was incompetent so I had to sack him immediately and start again.

[Stanley]

I remembered a firm who were experts at trench digging so I set them on. Here they are starting the sinking of the pit. Not simple, next to foundations of the main engine and below water table. Lots of fun with running sand and glacial erratics!

[Stanley]

The sheet piles are in place, the pit has been sunk to depth through running sand (note the sump pump which had to be left running all the time) and the re-bar is going in for the foot thick slab which will seal the bottom.

[Stanley]

The concrete is poured in the base of the pit. note that the starter bars for the two pillars are in place. The piles weren't normal Larsen piles, they had a loose lock so they could be driven down while the pit was being dug. They are supported by two hydraulic frames. This was the system the trenching contractors used for deep excavation and worked brilliantly.

[Stanley]

The first rise of the pillars is cast ready for shuttering. The walls have re bar installed and have been shuttered ready for concrete pouring.

[Stanley]

The walls have been poured and the last of the sheet piles is being cut off at roughly ground level.

[Stanley]

We're getting on now! The main body of the pit is almost finished and a very skilled man at shuttering is attending to the casting of the central pillar. More difficult than it looks because concrete heats up when setting and expands and contracts and the finished dimensions had to be accurate to a sixteenth of an inch. He did it. By the way, MGF the trenching contractors took on the job of pouring it as well and were superb. (The end cost was cheaper than the first failed contract).
One interesting point that illustrates that the 'experts' aren't always right. Note the starter bars in the bottom right corner of the pic. These were for a large collar I had cast round the top of the pit. What happened was that as they progressed I did some reckoning up and realised that the total volume of the pit expressed as water was greater than the weight of concrete in the structure. The consulting engineer hadn't realised this and so I specified a collar heavy enough to make sure the structure couldn't float out of the ground. I knew about this because I'd seen it happen with a very large slurry pit below the water table, it just floated up and cracked itself! All right, it was belt and braces but it has never moved.

[Stanley]

Some very careful measuring up and I was ready to install the baseplate for the flywheel shaft bearing on the foundation bolts I had made and already installed on the pillar anchored firmly to the re-bar. Once in place we poured the last six inches of the concrete. No going back, it had to be dead accurate.

[Stanley]

The pit is finished and the flywheel boss in place. I stayed behind one night and lifted it into place on my own. I did this because the weight was way beyond the tested capacity of the lifting tackle so if there was any accident it was down to me. No problems and the following morning when the lads came in I told them that the Erection Fairy had paid us a visit. I don't think they believed me....

[Bodger]

The "erection fairy", coulld you give me contact details ?