OneGuyFromBarlick

I used to love refurbishing old valves and still do them if I am asked. A refurbished old valve is far better than a brand new modern one, they don't put the metal into them.



My mate Robert bought an old boiler that used to be used on a mobile crane. He sent the boiler to REW to refurbish it as it's very rare and a useful little HP boiler. I got the feed valve to refurbish. Being to railway specifications it was very well made.

The ex-railway crane boiler as received at Rochdale Electric Welding. It looks tatty but is in very good basic condition.

The Spencer Hopwood railway crane boiler after refurbishment. SH boilers were standard equipment on railway cranes until well into the 1950s. This was 150psi working pressure and did about 800lbs of steam an hour. Inclined cross tubes and very quickly fired to working pressure from cold.

Amazing! What a difference.

And a useful HP boiler that had passed all its tests. The feed valve was a problem until they gave it to me to breathe on...



I hate square threads!!!

The feed valve finished and ready for the next 100 years of service. New valve spindle and gland. I love rescuing good tackle!

Back where it belongs....

This Smith Rodley steam crane was found in 1980 in Jumbles Quarry near Slaidburn. It was still there in 2003. The Spencer boiler above would be for a slightly larger rail mounted crane.

If the Spencer Hopwood boiler interested you, have a look at this LINK for an excellent article on steam railway cranes. I remember that the boiler above was dated around 1950 so it's steaming capacity is probably higher than I stated.

I was looking for the largest stationary steam engine ever built and most of the sites I found stated that it was the Kelham Island rolling mill engine at 12,000hp but there was at least one more that was larger. Here's what I found on the web: "At Republic Steel Plant, Cleveland, Ohio. It was a Mesta engine built in 1908, twin tandem compound, 46" & 76" x 5ft6" stroke, 200psi, 200 rpm max. drove a 44" blooming mill (35,000 hp). Out of service 1982. 65ft long by 30ft wide. Reversing engine (no flywheel). Spare crankshaft, pistons etc on-hand. This is the largest engine known in the USA, last article I read was a visit in 1989 for the ISSES bulletin. (11:3)". That's what I thought and I think that in the end the plant was owned by United Steel. I found this image on the web....

I've just been watching a program on TV about the UK attempt on the World Record for a steam driven vehicle. The record was set in 1906 at 127.659 mph by driver Fred Marriott in a Stanley Steamer. I found that to be incredible. Anyway the challenger is a high tech vehicle called Inspiration.
More here

On August 25th, 2009 at Edward's Air Force Base in California, USA, the British Steam Car, driven by Charles Burnett III broke the existing land speed record by a steam powered vehicle with an average speed of 139.843 mph over two consecutive runs over a measured mile. This was recorded and has since been ratified by the FIA.

On August 26th, 2009 the British Steam Car, driven this time by Don Wales, broke a second record by achieving an average speed of 148.308 mph over two consecutive runs over a measured kilometer. This was also recorded and again, has since been ratified by the FIA.

http://www.steamcar.co.uk/

Will the Stanley Steamer make a come back?

I doubt it P. Bit like the Mallard record. The Stanley Steamer record run was the longest lasting speed record I think.

You might wonder what this pic of the Old Fart with one of his students, Bee Vang, has to do with steam.... Dead simple, we were on a genuine steam powered Rhine steamer in 2000 near the Lorelei. Those were the days!

Work on the Jubilee engine at Masson goes on...





The covers are off the LP and HP cylinders to get access to the pistons.

I was asked for advice about removing the pistons. I thought my reply might interest you.

Bar the engine round to get the piston as close to the open end of the cylinder as possible. You are not looking at the piston but part of it that retains the rings and stops the cotter coming out if it should become loose. It is called the junk ring. Take out the nuts round the periphery, put jacking screws (ordinary Whitworth set screws of adequate length) into the tapped holes in the junk ring and use them to jack the junk ring off the piston and remove it. You can then knock the tapered key out of the slot and remove the rings and the piston. If the piston is frozen on the rod, disconnect the rod at the crosshead and jack both the rod and the piston out. Once out of the cylinder, use your heads about freeing it.
Just like that!
Best S

Mail from my friend Oliver about Kew Bridge reminded me of the picture taken in 1977. A big beam!

In 1990 I was asked to go and look at a scrapyard in Chorley. This was part of what I found....

There were parts of a large steam engine lying all round....

All the parts of the generator set were there in the yard laid in the open. I have a vague memory it used to be in Ferranti's at Hollinwood but might be wrong· I don't know what happened to it....

I went looking for where this alternator was originally installed but couldn't find anything. However, I tripped over the info about Padiaham power station so I have nudged it back up in case it is of interest.



The 400kva alternator drive on the second motion shaft at Wellhouse in 1951. There's a story behind the commissioning of this alternator. I looked in the Calf Hall Shed Company Minute books and found this entry for the 19th of February 1948.
A letter containing an estimate from Metropolitan Vickers Ltd of £78-2-6 for replacement of the automatic voltage regulator at WH Mill was read and it was agreed that the work should be done. [I'm not sure if the following is the case but I have the evidence of Walter Fisher of Brown and Pickles that the installation of the new alternator at WH was done by Ellison's and that due to a mistake in routing the bus bars carrying current from the alternator, when first started there was a very serious dead short to earth. Walter said it was the only time he had ever seen the ropes on an engine flywheel slip, the overload was so great. It may be that this has resulted in the destruction of the original regulator and that this item is the replacement. Both Walter and Newton Pickles suspected that this sudden overload on the engine may have been the start, or at least, a contributory cause, of the fracture of the engine fly-shaft which occurred on May 22nd 1951.]

The alternator at Bancroft Shed in 1977. Driven by a countershaft from the second motion shaft behind the wall.

"The 400kva alternator drive on the second motion shaft at Wellhouse in 1951. "
Bit of a bugger changing belts ?

It would have been Bodge but I don't think any were ever needed!

The alternator drive at Bancroft in 1976. Counter-shaft driven from the second motion shaft and back to the alternator. 'Speedona' belts. Good system in that larger pulleys could be used making belt life longer. I never had to touch the drive apart from checking the ring oiler bearings for lubricant.