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Invernahaille
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 Posted -
26/06/2006
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04:02
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Edited by - Invernahaille on 10 April 2007 04:41:19
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softsuvner
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 07:59
Stanley
I Just love the San Francisco ferry slide, romantic dereliction!
St Catherine's Dock started to change drastically just after your visit. For a time a whole collection of ships including the Discovery were based there. Alas the collection was split up (to make way for more yachties and other rich folks). When I get a chance I may be able to post an updated pic. or two.
The "Challenge" still survives though, I believe she has been steamed recently - you will find some video of her on U - Tube.
I am at work sorting a few things out at the moment - this being my last working day (retirement starts tomorrow !).
Hopefully I will have more time to post.
Malcolm
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Tizer
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 10:49
Malcom, great pictures! Congratulations on reaching the end of one working life - you'll probably start another now! But I hope you have time to show us more photos.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 13:17
Er..... excuse me! The 'great pictures' were from the old fart! I have some pics of merchant ships actually using the docks as well, very few about in 1976 but still a bit of activity.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 18:29
Mrs Tiz pulled me up for that too! Not sure how I mixed you up. Sorry - your pictures are wonderful as always Stanley!
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softsuvner
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 18:49
Thanks Tizer
The last few working days of a working life have felt a little bit strange.
For once I think that I have got my timing right. I have a new project on the go, something that I have always wanted to do, but never had the chance because of shifts etc. It arrives next Sunday and I can't wait.
A clue ? Stanley has got one, it has its own topic, and is not easy to photograph!
As I have posted in the past. When I worked for Fire Research we did a lot of work,sponsored by Taylor Woodrow, on samples of the iron beams from the Telford Warehouses at St Katherine's Dock. The GLC fire regs were the toughest in the UK in those days.
The beams performed brilliantly in the fire tests, but part of the test involved hosing them down afterwards which always led to catastrophic failure. In the end, they decided that the residential units would be demolished and rebuilt as replicas.
Malcolm
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softsuvner
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Posted - 31/03/2009 : 21:54
Just to show how backwards I am, I have only just noticed Alan Mac's request for marine boiler explosions. I have managed to find references in my books to three which might be worth pursuing.
1) On the inland packet service from Yarmouth to Norwich via Breydon water. In 1817 the boiler of the packet "Telegraph" exploded killing 11 people.
2) A well known disaster, in 1866 the Clyde steamer "Arran Castle"
was in passage from the Clyde to London via the Irish Sea. She never
arrived but large amounts of identifiable debris turned up off Greenock. There was some controversy, but it was generally agreed that, because of the size and amount of debris, she must have suffered a boiler explosion killing all 20 on board.
3) A very graphic photo has appeared in several books showing the remains of the Cardiff paddle tug "Black Eagle No 1" which suffered a boiler failure in the River Avon in November 1866. The photo is credited to Bristol Industrial Museum.
("tugs and towage" in the excellent Shire Album series is one place that you can see this photo)
Hope this may give a line for further research.
Malcolm
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 01/04/2009 : 07:00
Malcolm, you've got me going now. Do you mean you are actually going to tidy the shed up? If so we need before and after pics!
My guide in 1976 was John Pudney who wrote a book about London Docks in about 1975 (no date on the book) and I remember that he was very scathing about the 'accidental' fire which destroyed the warehouses on the west side of the dock thus making room for the hotel. I once spent an interesting hour with an insurance assessor who told me that the most fireproof beams were old oak ones. Once they charred on the outside they were almost invulnerable and held out longer than steel or concrete.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
softsuvner
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Posted - 01/04/2009 : 19:56
I took this shot in about 1979, as you can see the view of the Tower in the background is about to be obscured by new buildings.
At this time the ships of the Maritime Trust Collection, which included Discovery and the the steam coaster "Robin", were still moored there.
The Marina is now I presume like most of its kind, a monument to the boating bad taste that money can buy!
Stanley, you are right that my workshop needs tidying up, but that isn't the project. I have decided to employ a Personal Fitness Trainer, not some jibbering fool in lycra, but following your lead, one with legs at each corner, potential hazards at each end, and photogenic black in colour. My one, who arrives Sunday seems, despite oniy recently retiring from the trace track, to be a nice steady chap when we gave him a test run last week (I should certainly be more concerned myself if I had just had my nuts nipped ! ). I will give an update in BJ's thread - if he doesn't mind!
Malcolm
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 02/04/2009 : 06:51
Good choice, retired greyhounds are about the laziest and most amenable dogs you can find. Your biggest job will be getting it off the sofa to go for a walk. They have a soft mouth as well. Best aid for them to get them to run is a plastic ring Frisbee. If you're in the vicinity call in and I'll give you a couple. Train it to bring things back by sitting at the top of the stairs and chucking a ball down. Once you have got that in its head you can use the frisbee by making it roll across the ground and it's dead easy to get a couple of miles running on them in short order. Make sure that you train it to put things back in your hand.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 23/08/2009 : 07:45
Let's try to get this topic motoring again. It has had almost 25,000 hits so the interest is there. Give it a bit of thought....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
colsack
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Posted - 26/08/2009 : 19:27
Hi everyone on this thread, i work as a commercial diver so if anyone thinks i might be able to contribute and help get this site motoring again just let me know and i will do my best.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 27/08/2009 : 07:22
Did anyone watch the prog on Channel 5 last night about ship design. I was really taken by the Norwegan 'X-bow' design with the round-nosed bow which was far more efficient than a conventional flared bow in heavy weather. Funny thing is it is the same shape as a spem whale. Submarines use the shape as well. There was some very convincing footage of these ships in very heavy seas out performing the conventional bow shape.
http://www.norway-sudan.org/business/maritime/Ulsetin_eng.htm
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 24/11/2009 : 10:06
I have been looking at the propulsion arrangement for Queen Mary 2, when the ship was built it was quite unique. The basic priniple is "CODAG" short for combined diesel and gas turbine. More accurate would be "CODAG Electric" Initial power is supplied by four 16 cylinder Wartsile diesel engines and two General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines, these two are located not in the engine rooms as one would expect, but immediately below the funnel in soundproof pods. All six engines drive generator sets which supply power to four 21.5 MW Rolls Royce Alstum "Mermaid" electrical propulsion pods with forward facing propellors, two forwards and two aft. The forward pair are fixed but the after ones can be rotated through 360 degrees for steering, therefore the ship does not have a rudder. The propellor blades can be independantly removed if damaged and a full set of spare blades are carried on the f'ocsl.
thomo |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/11/2009 : 06:46
I noted those as well Peter when they were building it. One unit failed I think shortly after Commissioning.
Malcolm, how's the personal trainer doing?
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
jgb7573
New Member
44 Posts
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Posted - 26/11/2009 : 17:52
Seeing the post about QM2's propulsion system I got curious (not being a marine engineer) and had a bit of a dig around on the net to find out how the system worked. It seems that Rolls Royce is the target of a number of lawsuits about the MerMaid pods from ship operators around the world, including the owners of QM2. I hope that all gets resolved, because the idea of these pods sounds like a very interesting development.
The descriptions of the propulsion system I've seen, admittedly aimed at the layman, say that the diesel engines drive generators which provide the juice to power the pods. So what are the two gas turbines for? Is it just peak lopping or something similar?
JohnB,
Found that horn - gorn! |
Marine Engineers
