Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Antiques Road Show

K, your mention of bunkers triggered a memory of being requested to attend a rather large one, at a time when they were still part of the plan. Of course I could not find it, but created a bit of fun at the local town police station when I went in and asked for directions...!

I don`t have much in the way of old treasures, apart from the obvious... (-: A writing slope presented to my grandfather by some of those he trained in the military, old red driving licence, few thrupny bits and perhaps twenty or so old pennies. Other than that and perhaps more interesting in terms of valuing the past, some years back a friend of a friend of mine was shutting the doors on a long established ships engine manufacturers prior to building demolition, and gathered up the old photographs that were strewn over the drawing office floor. As my friend`s father had worked in the business man and boy, and was an engineer himself he thought my friend would like to have them.

I come into the story as the new owner of a computer with facilities to scan photographs, and thus was handed a pile of pics to digitise in the hope of preserving them to some degree. My friend has a wealth of knowledge of the works and we worked our way through the pics trying to catalogue the many and varied engines and works scenes.

Out of the collection one pic caught my eye more than the others, it is of and engine test run in the works, you can see the flywheel is blurred and there is one of the works cats in the process of attracting the attention of the engineer standing at the control station.... Apparently the nearby works tenement housing used to thrum during engine runs over the years, so I guess the mortar would have been pre loosened making demolition a simpler matter.

My friends father was the engineer tasked with rebuilding the PS Comet replica, the engine of which is held in the science museum in London, he spent some time with it in order to replicate it faithfully, the replica was sailed on the anniversary of the Comets first sailing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Comet#:~:text=The%20PS%20%28paddle%20steamer%29%20Comet%20was%20built%20in,the%20first%20commercially%20successful%20steamboat%20service%20in%20Europe.

I seem to have rambled on a bit, as ever..

Thanks for sharing photos Luddite,takes me back to serving my apprenticeship at Doxfords marine engine builders Sunderland.Test bed running would be 24hours for 3/5days and at certain revs600/750 those massive marine engines would shake and vibrate like a Morriss A engine in a car.especially on sea trials.Notice cat at control engineers feet, the rough and tough marine engineers of heavy engineering were all softies at heart coming into the machine shops at holiday time to feed cats.Cheers

The size of that engine is mind boggling, the noise must have been scary and no ear defenders in sight, eh, what's that you said?

Just read about the Comet , interesting history. Thanks for sharing George.

Thanks for sharing the photos George. A reminder of times past...

Thanks George

Really enjoyed your photos.

BR
Colin

In Sunderland, were it a black cat, it would be quite understandable.....

Luddite: as a young lad my next door neighbour who was an Engineer at Mirrlees Blackstone Diesel in Stockport used to take me to see the engines they were making for the ships and railway engines of the day. They were as in your pictures absolutely huge and frighteningly loud, great memories.

Thank you Luddite - Great photos of a magnificent engine. It looks well used and well set in place so I am intrigued to know what is meant by a 'test run' and what is going to happen to it afterwards.

Hi engine would be stripped right down to bedplate,crankshaft,cylinders,pistons,etc ECT then transported in UK by pickford low loaders with police escort to shipyard where it would be installed in revervse into ship (after launch) then built up with all auxiliary engine room equipment started at quayyside then put though extensive tests on sea trials until ship owners,engine builders,and Lloyds where all happy.Most engines like in photo were built under licence as particular engine looks like a Sulzer engine Swiss company.Very limited to lifting by crane size at fitting out quays most limited to about 40tons .Once took a ship just lanched built in half so aft end towed from Sunderland to Glasgow around the top of Scotland then complete engine lifted in with the famous hammer head crane (now a museum piece of Glascow ) which had a 100ton lift then towed back to River Tyne and joined together with other half of bulk carrier ship then sea trials .Good old days with plenty of pay and job satisfaction I am just gone 65 this would no happen now all the skill lost or scattered ie. Germany,Taiwan,Japan.Doxford engines where designed and built in Sunderland but a lot of ship owners favoring Sulzer or Man engines as a lot of different countries built these under licence.A Doxford engine a R and D project left behind when everything closed 1980s(thank you Maggie Thatcher and EU)is hopefully going to be built in Beamish museum in near future and hopefully I can get involved as a volunteer to put together.

It gives me great pleasure to think that there are others like me who can find interest and a sense of value in the preservation of our engineering heritage. I find it all too easy to fall into grumpy old man mode when I think of all the works of all types now long gone...

Pickles, I guess there may be a time and a place for everything, I am glad I was born where and when I was which provided me with a sense of place and a sense of purpose over my 50 working years having only been employed by two companies, yet with a variation in type of work and in locations that opened my eyes to so very much.. As for the giant cranes, there are a few up and down the river, one in the city centre that was used to load locally manufactured steam trains on to ships for transportation all over the world, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnieston_Crane Another halfway down river in Clydebank, known as the Titan Crane that served the berth where vessels such as HMS Hood and the "Queens" were built and fitted out...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Clydebank

Gordon, I guess the engineer and the cat were well used to the thrum of those huge engines while running tests.. Elf`n safety...? I remember as a yoof, working in your fine city in the court building at the end of Union Street and being up an extension ladder from a parapet to the centre of the face of the tower clock on that iconic building, a BIG spanner in one hand and a hammer in the other, both attached to my belt by light rope, and used to loosen the rather large nut holding the hands of the clock in place..... interesting times indeed.

Britmog, I used to fire up a rather large air start Blackstone engine that acted as an electrical standby for a couple of huge radars mounted at ground level, it was a very impressive bit of kit with it`s black enamelled side plates and chrome domed nuts. hand operated oil pump to pre- pressurise the lube system before pushing the button and bringing the monster back to life. The Blackstone like others had dual oil filters, to allow filter changes while the engine was running, no risk management or single point failures..we had back up systems to the back up systems...changed days.

Rob T, that was a brand new engine being run on test in the works where it was created and from the pic ID it seems to be the three hundred and ninety fourth engine to have been built there..as Pickles typed some were stripped right down and shipped out prior to finding their home in some fine ship, like so many before. On the other hand given the almost riverside location of the works, some were moved out whole a process oft involving Pickfords as Pickles noted, there were railway lines from the works across the road to the dockside less than a hundred yards distant... For a few years I used a cut off of that line as an anvil in my garage.

End of the line..

http://www.inverclydeshipbuilding.c...ering-companies/kincaids/the-last-engine

There stands a burger bar in the approximate area of the works and some modern flats.... Not many jobs for the young men in that area these days or for the last 30 or more years...a great pity.