Kempton Park Big Triple Steam Engine Starting
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2014
- The Kempton Park Steam Engines (also known as the Kempton Great Engines) are two large triple-expansion steam engines, dating from 1926--1929, at the Kempton Park waterworks, Middlesex, London. The were manufactured by Worthington-Simpson. Each engine is of a similar size to that used in RMS Titanic and rated at about 1008 hp. They each pumped 19 million gallons of water a day, to supply north London with drinking water taken from the River Thames. These are the largest triple expansion engines still running in the world!
They were the last working survivors when they were finally retired from service in 1980. Here is one of the engineers engaging the barring engine, into the fly wheel in order to line the pistons of the main engine in the correct position for the admission of steam, to start. A truly remarkable sight, showing the years of dedicated restoration work to get the engine running again. Well worth a visit, check their web site for live steaming weekends. - เพลง
I'm glad that there are still people that appreciate these machines and who can maintain and operate them. Truly a work of art.
And on top of that those steam engines were built to last
😢😢😢😢😢😢
Parts that big moving that fast and being balanced shows incredible craftsmanship. Absolutely beautiful. I can just imagine the engine room of the Titanic.
it was dark, noisy and smelly - you would not have seen the engine anything this well
@@ghostrider-be9ek Titanics engine rooms were well ventilated and well lit
@@erikzidan2601 absolutely nothing like what this video shows, it would have been dark and noisy
@@ghostrider-be9ek the entire 4th funnel was for ventilation, it was noisy, I didnt say it wasnt and th engine rooms were not dark, you dont want to check pressure gauges in the dark, it was not lit like daylight but there was quite a lot of light becouse the engineers needed it
@@erikzidan2601 again, repeating for the 3rd time, it was nothing Ike this video shows, the big parts would have been mere shadows, the lights would have been down low where the gauges were, it would have been hot, smelly and oily
As a 61 year old, German communications engineer, I would like to say: English mechanical engineering and thermodynamics expertise is brilliant! Thanks for the video!
If you think this is immpressive look up the 100 ton gun on forgoten weapons.
This engine is nothing compared to the ones built in Milwaukee Wisconsin by Allis Chalmers
@@RJ1999x I hardly say they are nothing and do the Milwaukee engines still run?
@@johnhodges8264 of course they do, they were the absolute best built, and the largest ever made. In fact I have one
We know!
you now its getting real when your engine needs an engine to start up
That phrasing reminds me how an atomic bomb works. ...an explosion needs to happen, before THE explosion.
Also, don't jet planes work on the "pilot-engine principle"? A gas engine starts the turbine engines.
...a diesel-electric train engine works on the same principle. A diesel motor powers individual electric motor cells.
My car is the same way. ;-)
Well, from just about every modern combustion engine requiring a starter motor to some electric motors requiring a start-capacitor, just about every efficient thing requires some kind of start, although for cap-start it's only because they run on AC. Synchrous electric motors have near 0 torque @ 0 rpm, like most combustion engines, as they rely on being at a constant speed in-phase with the power, so there is a myriad of ways people have come up with to start them, and one I recently found basically does a clever trick where the motor actually starts off an induction motor, then you can switch it to synch. So that motor needs a motor to start, but it becomes THE starter motor for itself! The shit people came up with.. This is from like he 1920s too! To this day this tech could be used, however it's not really needed as motors are more efficient and mains supply can take short bursts of high current draw, not to mention most synch motors needing some soft-start would be industrial, where having massive starting current is not necessarily an issue.
Anyway, life's awesome :)
The gas turbines of the Me262, first mass-produced jet aircraft, had a small 2-stroke engine to power up.
its getting even more real when you need an engine to start an engine to start an engine up
The castings….My God…look at the castings! Foundry and moulding shops capable of doing this work are just as impressive.
My thoughts exactly. Those are some impressive castings, I wonder if that type of casting could even be done today. So much has been lost to modernization.
We needed a 1200 HP diesel for a business in Seattle that was going to work off the California coast running extension cords to offshore drill platforms.
We were forced to buy the engine out of country because California deemed making a casting that big was contrary to their goal of clean air.
Now…some 25 years later…I fully avoid do any business with anything connected to California including people.
Racist of me I know. ;-)
They still do very large castings. They need nuclear reactors to be in one piece, so a single japanese company casts the entire reactor. As far as I know it's the largest they do today.
On a slightly smaller scale, you can see it being done in "A Study In Steel", which is a documentary on building a steam locomotive. Just make the casting moulds three times as big and use thirty times as much molten steel.
There are lots of off the self 1200 HP Diesel engines going back to the 1950's. Maybe you meant 12,000 HP! That would be a big casting and they are basically custom per customer. You can buy a low end horsepower Diesel locomotive prime mover from EMD. They actually start around 1500 HP that are reliable and tractable with highly available service with marine versions. Not cheap and weigh around 30 tons. You can find people, not in an hour, but you can get people that know those engines incredibly well. Also not cheap.
“So how much torque does that thing put out”
“Yes”
All the torque.
hp = torque x rpm / 5252, assuming it could hit 60rpm for 1000hp, that is 87533 lb/ft
It says what it in in the description 🤗
Mark Bowman nope
@@joey66436 It is running at 17.5 rpm, therefore torque; 25,530 lbs/ft.
A lost art for sure. Look at the DESIGN. The brass dials, the handwheels, the railings, the lamps, the gears. Every detail not just made to work, but to look beautiful. I LOVE this!
JDK Productions that’s the Victorians for you. Build it well and make it beautiful. Check out the programs hosted by Fred Dibnah. I think it was called Made in Britain. There’s actually a few parts to the series.
Remind of a paddle wheel boat on the chattahoochee river.
You should see the Crossness pumping station... It's like a cathedral inside.
There's just a certain something about this old stuff, an elegant touch.
@@nelsonmcgee3545 In Detroit, we had two steamships (built about 1898-1902) that transported thousands of people up and down the Detroit River to an amusement park in Canadian waters. They each had a big steam engine with a giant brass piston rod that went up and down like this one. My father would put me up on his shoulders and I could look down into the engine room where there were shirtless sweating men operating the engine amidst the oil and steam. It was very impressive.
No joke that is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. That building alone is probably about the size of my highschool campus, and the engines are almost impossible for me to grasp. I can't even imagine the work that went into building these, and they're still going strong today. And the job they had to do is incredible. I'd love to see these in person some day, I'm sure the video doesn't do it justice at all.
Living in England I’ve had the privilege of seeing this beautiful place. Unfortunately the engines weren’t in steam when I was there, but you’re right. As cool as the video is, you need to go there to truly appreciate the size of the engines and room as a whole. There is incredible detail that would simply be overlooked in the steam rooms design and the engines are a wonder, truly.
the age when things were built to last, not to break.
Rev it up!!!😅😅😅
The aroma of engine oil and aging machinery and buildings is indescribable.
Muito legal a preservação para a história isso é lendário que bacana.
My father was a Stationary Steam Engineer for decades at the central power plant of Ford Motor's Rouge complex in Dearborn Michigan. While a kid, I got a one person tour of the power station (unthinkable today) and I have the pocket watch engraved by Henry Ford ll which was given to my father upon his retirement in 1964. The power plant was massive, noisy, fairly clean, but very dangerous. This marvelous video brought back all those memories. Thanks.
It saddens me to see stuff like this go away....i love old reliable machines...
Im 40 yrs old and i ride bikes from the 70s and 80s just because i love too...
Ive run a few big machines before not like this though....
Let us never forget the past
Very cool I’m in Ann Arbor !!
All that giant steel and activity crating electric power without pollution. Except for the coal I assume it's using to heat the boilers.
This reminds me of looking down into the engine room of the Boblo Boat.
Wasn't there a documentary of some kind of how steam engines are capable of generating electricity?
The size is amazing, the power is incredible, but I tip my hat to the gentlemen who not only built this mechanical masterpiece but also to those who continue to love and care for her. WELL DONE!
I absolutely think steam engines are one of the most fascinating inventions in human history. They are elegant in their action and design. Kudos to all the engineers that brought these behemoths to life.
Coal fired steamship Titanic
indeed...it is the first time the semblance of life in the machine was seen, and power on a scale so much more than an animal or man could make. A turning point from ancient to now.
Literal energy in motion.
The entire world we have now...enormous and powerful engines like these made it possible.
Steam power is magnificent.
Microprocessors are incredibly impressive but not as majestic as this technology.
Majestic is an excellent choice of words.
@Broxavon Labs GIRL POWER That's the truth of it. The beauty of something like a steam engine is that it's workings are readily visible. Not only can you see it but you don't need to be able to know the engineering behind it to grasp the general sense of how it operates. The elegance of semiconductor technology is far more elusive both visually and conceptually to the point that it is regularly presented in movies as some type of CGI fly-through with lights and sparks to try to excite the audience.
if it's IT that thrills you have a gander at my other video th-cam.com/video/xlWKoB8AU7M/w-d-xo.html
You should take a look at a hit & miss stationary engine with an open crank. Built along the designs of a steam engine but using internal combustion.
That remains to be seen doesn't it? Many have already failed, but many are working far past their expected life and largely un-maintained. Still not as pretty as this, but it's too early to guess how long electronics last.
I've been a mechanic for 40 years and I still marvel at the beauty of watching one of these marvels of engineering run simply amazing
These machines were beautifully crafted without CAD or CNC. No other engine can compete with a steam driven one!
And the prowess of the men who designed this. These clowns today couldn't come up with something this awesome with a gun to their head. One of my prize possessions is a full set of engineering textbooks from the early 20th century. It's such a joy to revisit the methods and rationale of the time.
@@johndoe-so2ef please, share some titles so I may or may not find a paperback copy! I adore old-time engineering...
What has replaced these machines to pump the water?
You don’t need cnc or cad to design and build such simple machines . It’s just a big Mamod ! It’s not rocket science!
@@pufango4059 These machines were designed by the people who now build CAD software programs. The most intelligent people worked on this. The knowledge, experience and commitment it took to come from nothing to such a complex installation was immense and it was put on paper piece by piece. The design department was structurally as complex as a personal computer. The machines used to machine these gigantic pieces of work were operated by workers who could not study because of their backgrounds, but were intelligent enough that they could have completed university studies at their leisure and who had gained experience in the factory from their early childhood. It was an unparalleled team effort.
Been traveling through England's marvelous past (via TH-cam) and the heart warming good sense they have had to keep these beautiful historic machines operational. The skill sets of all the workers that conceive, produce and maintain these essential works and machines is almost incomprehensible. Nowadays the popular heros are guys that can dribble a ball and throw it through a hoop.
You are spot on
Very right. It's sickening what passes for heros and music these days.
For those who are curious the torque figure is approximately 311,412 Ft/lbs of torque (17 rpm, 1008 hp)
421,963 Nm
Yep I was wondering... thanks for the info 👍
I just don't think one of these will fit in a honda civic!!🤣🤣
You way off. For on thing there is no limit to the hp of steam and it depends on the pressure/volume or how many boilers are lit and stoked id guess conservative hp would be14,000 each. My car has1600 hp blown injected you are so far off
Try 30,000 combined
That operator was so happy when it started up. Poetry in Motion. Thanks for recording.
Plot twist: The larger engine is actually used to start an even larger engine 😮😅
I never cease to be amazed at the precision accomplished by engineers and machinists half a century before even pocket calculators were invented! I could spend all day watching this marvel!
I have to say as a licensed high pressure stationary steam operating engineer, every thing portrayed on this video is ENTIRELY accurate! Very nicely done. I really enjoyed that little insertion of the donkey steam engine employed to get the larger machine rotating. I am retired, but I sure miss operating large high pressure steam boilers and the associated machinery!
simply put they don't make em like they used to
Sir, power stations steam turbines , I suppose??
Imagine building a boiler for 940 psi for turbine locos , Steam will be the Emperor soon !
Понимаю вас)Паровые машины особенно очаровывают на всегда)Невозможно их забыть)Они становятся частью тебя)
can you imagine the effort it would have taken to put one of these together !? and then refurbishing all the parts. what clever ancestors we have in this world.
Reminds me so much of the pump stations that I worked at through the 90's and early 2000's in Chicago. Steam driven pumps that delivered finished water all over the city. Huge stations with the same basic design as this one, all the pumps down on the floor below the mezzanine. Fabulous granite and marble construction, wooden flooring and brass railing. All of it maintained to perfection and sparkling.
My purpose there was to install new control systems for the electric drives being installed to replace the steam drives. Very much enjoyed the work but was and still am sad that all of that is now gone. All the people gone that it took to operate and maintain the boilers and drives, probably 50 or more at each station. The level of maintenance gone with them and most of them left with the doors closed and locked as they are now controlled remotely.
I am grateful to have gotten to experience the beauty and greatness of such things built by those before us.
I love how the steam engine is so massive it has it's own mini steam engine to start it.
Britain must have been a mighty manufacturing country when that was made , the quality of the metalwork is is a amazing.
Before WWII Europe was the technology center. (China arguably was the leader before industrial revolution). Only thing US excelled before WWII was large aircraft. Fastest ship, locomotives, fighter planes, were all European (or Japanese). Only during the war US caught up with P-51 and been the leader ever since because the rest of the world needed to rebuild.
If US continue to coasting, Europe, Japan and China will certainly catch up once again.
Believe me it was. I love to watch the engines at the old Victorian pumping station on the London sewage scheme from the 1850s and 60s.
The Brits have a gift building magnificent machines. Always have admired them.
My Granddad worked in the engine room of a WW1 Merchant Marine Ship. He said they would wave a straw broom in front of them to detect in visible steam leaks. If the end of the broom got cut off, you stopped walking!
Not many people can fathom the amount of energy in superheated steam.
That's still done on board ships using superheated steam. The cloud of visible water vapor might be on the other side of the the room from where the leak originates.
I never even realized the necessity of something like that until now... Holy shit.. Imagine forgetting your broom and just getting taken off at the knees
@@kielcarson6776 Even if you forget "your" broom, there are usually many others available. In machinery spaces with high pressure steam, there are usually fiber or straw type bristle brooms stationed around the room. If you look closely, you realize that most of the broom straws are clean, as if they haven't ever been near the floor. Then you realize that you are probably standing on an open grating, so sweeping the floor wouldn't be a requirement. That's about the time one of the senior engineers will explain to you how to sweep you surroundings for a steam leak. When an alarm sounds or someone yells about a steam leak, everyone freezes momentarily, grabs the nearest broom and starts sweeping the air. This is only an issue in modern steam plants, running high pressure, superheated steam. Old engines like the Kempton engines aren't a problem. They run at much lower temperatures and pressure.
@@youtubejunky7481 Nuclear power via steam turbine.
All proper steam engines are painted green and have a random spanner lying about.
Absolutely, it's essential to making it run properly !
And an oil can, not to forget.
The special paint for engines is called 'Engine Green'.
It's usually green in colour...
Yep, a 11/16 Whitworth usually. Don't forget the oily rag too. Both of these things will fix anything on any engine pre-1946.
And the spammer is about 4 feet long
I pretty well grew up with those magnificent engines on Liberty and empire ships, they were amazingly quiet engines, and extremely reliable. I miss them..
These grand old machines are the Gothic cathedrals of mechanical engineering. My god, its like music!
The people who designed and built these magnificent works of art are gone, but future generation will be in awe of them. No calculators, no computers , no CAD, or CAM. I bet the engineering drawing were a work of art in themselves.
A cathedral of steam and cast iron! Stunning!
The tolerances in a machine like this are fucking mind bending, this is a work of art. Would love to see it at full tilt!
Did some quick calculations a thousand horsepower at 20rpm has over 264000 ftlbs of torque.
two engines, 1008 hp per engine, 550 ft-lb/s per 1 hp, 60 sec per 1 min ... at 20 rpm ...
Wouldn't it work out to 2 x 1008 x 550 x 60 / 20 = 3,326,400 ft-lb total torque?
LOL, ftlbs
English unit sucks
@D2RG6 at 20rpm by 1008hp it would be 481320 nm...
How many men using oars would there need to be to match that? Considering all men are all natty and 190 lbs and can bench press 250
A steam engine so large it needs another small steam engine to start it, this is impressive stuff.
Even in todays hi tech throw away age these mechanical beasts are amazing to see run and real works of art. Imagine making those truly massive 4+ story high castings and forgings. I applaud those who designed built and maintained these gargantuan HP/Torque monsters as well as the talented individuals who restored and run them today.
I am one of the lucky ones to see these run in anger, pumping water to London, before they were shut down.
That's great Andrew I'm guessing seeing these start was not a common occurrence, was the other pumping engine kept as a standby or did they both ump in anger when conditions required?
There were two of these powerplants in the RMS Titanic. One for each outer Port and Starboard screw with a steam turbine on the center screw before the rudder.
The ones on the Titanic produced 15,000 hp each and were much larger.
916fanatic1 You are right.
You are one of the lucky ones, that's for sure...
she's a beautiful and graceful old lady. That sound is heaven to my ears...
What is really amazing was the design process - taking account tolerances, turning radii, eccentric paths, etc., and then after the foundry processes, machining and assembly, of how everything meshed and then functioned smoothly together. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant...
Quite ironic watching this from the control room in the Advanced water treatment works next door.
No idea why TH-cam recommended this, but sat here watching it on my tab, I swear I could smell it too ☺
Beautiful piece of machinery, thank you for not ruining the video with terrible music✌✌
Oh i love beautiful old equipment like this. I especially love seeing it work. There are times when i really do think I was born in the wrong era.
@Twisties jolley there was never an era named steam "punk". It's the 19th and 20th centuries.
I would give just about anything to be able to help take care of this beautiful work of art.
Wonderful and majestic engineering! Back when craftsman cared about their creations. Our whole team would love to see it in person!
Biggest engine cylinder in the earth 🌍😯
I hope that there is a plan for teaching the next generations how to preserve this great machine.
Victorian engineering, brilliant !
I love these old machines, It should be a crime to scrap them. They are so impressive and
only use steam.
Ody Slim where does the steam come from ie what flue is burnt too turn water too steam
@@matthewcoslett5398 don't think that's what Ody Slim was aiming for with his comment
A lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot of COAL TOO !!!!!
@@bastouneuroatypicmusic6885 The fuel is a non-issue you can use anything. If I remember right the Kempton Park steam engines currently just use a massive electric heating element to run.
@@luketorpedo If you really wanted to, you could plug it into a nuclear reactor, they too are nothing but a steam engine, just the fuel is not carbon, but uranium
That thing sounds amazing. If only I could cross that damn pond...
It's only a flight away my friend
it's always amazing to see an old man running all
*the wheel, spinning pretty fast at its edge, with thousands of pound-feet of torque.
My brain: “touch it”
Mine too
that's not an engine. that's a masterpiece.
18 RPM! An Incredible preserved machine. I love going past those old pump houses around Shepperton and Hampton too. The architecture is beautiful.. This machine is a tribute to the restoration team, I can't get over how much Steel and inertia! It also showing how we still use all the same principles today.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans would love this thing.
The sad thing is that if an EMP or massive solar corona were to destroy our current modern technology, we may well end up having to re-use these beauties again.
@@WarHawk- one Carrington event sized X50 solar flare will smoke EVERYTHING digital on the planet. We missed one such event by 9 days in 2012
@Charles V. Swenson Is that really a sad thing though? It would be amazing to see these puppies in action all over the country, especially the ones in Cinncinati.
@@WarHawk- Sadly, we are quickly approaching the 5th Trumpet of Revelations, woah,Woah,Woah!, to follow, ... there may be many many EMPs.
May God Bless us to see His Kingdom come, and then the re-building will truly begin.
It looks like a place to have a pint in the background. I'd love that.
Everything on this engine is built to last a thousand years, fantastic stuff 👍
Coal fired steamship Titanic
This place has just gone on my bucket list wow
These guys deserve a big a salute from all of us for maintaining and preserving these magnificient machines and showing us their power and worth today!
Much quieter than I would have thought. The sound is almost relaxing after a bit.
I always enjoyed walking into a plant and seeing some of the older equipment. Unfortunately, my job was to upgrade these steam engines and turbines to modern controls. I always felt a little sad seeing some of the original equipment go, but even sadder was the mass replacement of men with computers.
Yes, the Operator & Oiler in the Engine Room and the Fireman in the Boiler Building.
Потрясающие видео.
Гигантской механизм на паравой тяге это нечто.
Рад что такие механизмы сохранились, а не были уничтожены ради металла.
My grandfather was a small-town newspaperman, and printer. He used antique hand-fed printing presses, and set his type. The newspaper press he had was about the size of a pickup, and shook the whole building when it was running. The presses were full of rods, cranks, cams, shafts, and gears and as a little kid, watching all this going on was better than TV. It was mesmerizing to watch, just like this great big ol' beast.
You know your steam engine is a beast when it needs a smaller steam engine to start it!
I often pop back to this engineering marvel, its a wonderful steam engine, and the noise it makes is like a musical composition.
Absolutely impressing! Never seen such big (and working) steam engines! Congratulations and thanks to all members and workers who preserve this technology for future generations!
As an ex Navy Machinist Mate I ran 30,000 HP 3 stage turbines. I would loved to have had my hands on these monsters though Fantastic machines!!!. Not one damned transistor or micro chip on it ..
Bill Fitzpatrick steam.turbines are pretty cool, and only 1moving part
Bill,
Then you saw the condensing steam turbine pump sitting at 7:40 on the lower deck. It looks to have a gearbox driving the pump like Ship Service Turbine Generators which ran at 10,000 rpm to turn a 1200 rpm generator. This stuff was my bread and butter when I worked for GE Marine Department.
EMP proof!
That you say you "ran" instead of "operated" some machine says all anybody with a mechanical clue needs to hear even before.the hilarious "ran turbines" bullshit. Engines "run" on their own, Mr. Machinist.
@@kimmer6 yup. After the big power outage happens, engines like these will provide the electricity needed to restart everything.
Hearing that little starter engine slow as the main engine reached compression and it just plodded through it !
the little starter engine is cute
There should be no compression on that engine... its not internal combustion, the pressure comes from the outside
@@the_retag Very valid point that ! It must slow down at pistons lowest point when there is less steam pressure aiding it ?
@@mikesgsg2912 also ulnikely, considering the big flywheel and the multiple pistons. But maybe it has got something to do with the fact that its triple expansion
Perfect setting for James bond gun fight
The frame, flywheels, even the hand rails are works of art.
It's absolutely incredible what they were capable of building 100 years ago.
my grandfather was Stationary Engineer at Goetz Brewery in St.,Joe ,Mo. . he loved his job.
I can see why.
Those flywheels run so true!
Perfectly balanced
I was a mechanical fitter for 39 years working mainly in heavy engineering, so can appreciate the work in involved in assembling this masterpiece.
Fantastic!
Fantastic.
I have a great respect to people that preserve such precious masterpieces.
Thank you!
We made some pretty amazing machines in America in the steam age, but the British had a knack for building amazing machines that were pretty as well as monstrously powerful. That engine is stunning.
Example: the cold war Vulcan bomber. Probably the best looking aircraft in history. It was built as a bringer of nuclear death. And looked good doing it.
And they haven't been able to build a car to save there asses.......
but the Vulcan was easily hijacked and water landed to steal its nuclear bombs. . .
@@farmerbill6855 Yeah they only build iconic vehicles.
Нам русским очень нравится ядерная ракета ,сатана , она при любой войне очень убедительно выглядет и совершенно
this engine is a toy in comparison to the ones built in Milwaukee Wisconsin by Allis Chalmers
6:39 Hey that’s where I left my 10mm wrench. ;) but seriously are we not talking about how small that massive wrench looks next to this monster.
ive seen open end wrenches in shipyards large enough to remove the nut that holds the screw onto the main shaft. they use a large crane to turn the wrench.
All alone on the first day of 2024 and this video brought me so much joy and contentment. Here's to a year of solitude and self care. :)
That's great to hear
It's actually a *DECEPTICON* hiding in plain sight.. Waiting for the right time to complete it's mission.
Oh no. That is a massive decepticon
Puffpuffpassatron.
wait a sec ... does that mean that Megatron as the engine of the Titanic is still on the ocean floor and that the iceberg that brought the Titanic to the sinking was an Autobot mission?
The Decepticons are the good guys 😊
Um I hate to say this, but the decpticcons are bad guys
Have never seen these great engines before but, funfacts: I worked on tugs Sheen & Ham towing 4x 250 tons of special coal in Wm Cory & Sons lighters from Brentford to Sunbury to power these engines, probably twice a week in the 1960's. Fifty two weeks a year. We worked out that when they switched to road transport to deliver the coal, it would take at least 20 trucks (at that time) to haul one barge worth, so 80 trucks & drivers to replace one tug & 4 lighters. (tug had 3 crew and 1 lighterman per haul). I could never work out the economics to be honest, and so we lost the ships, the men & the way of life to the Road Gods. Fun Fact 2. Later, I worked as a Lockeeper at Teddington Lock (which the tugs & barges had to pass through), and one of the main jobs was controlling the water levels via the massive weir. The pumping station (above) would phone us and say that they were increasing the pumping levels and so we had to shut down the wir accordingly. That's how much water they took. Alternatively, when we had heavy rain we would call them and ask them to increase pumping to reduce floodwater. Amazing that this is the very first time I have seen the engines that kept me so busy! Thanks for posting..
As a water treatment operator with a lifelong obsession with heavy machinery, this is for sure the coolest thing I've seen all year.
That's heartening to hear
The sheer mass of the parts alone is terrifying and the machine handles the mechanics turning the parts with nothing but a whisper and a clunk.
The enormity of these magnificent machines is hard to fathom. 3 levels to the top, looks like 3 levels down. WOW!!!!
It sounds like it has a heartbeat. Like it's alive.
It is to an extent, these were built with dedication and passion.
I sort of believe that they are.....
When people say something is impossible, I always think of machines like these, pyramids, space rockets...
Fuck it, nothing is impossible.
Such things of sheer beauty. Back when 'Made in England' meant the best. Where did we go wrong?
You allowed the global capitalist banking system to leverage your currency. Happens to the best of us.
you spent the Empire on winning the 1st World War, and then took out loans and dismantled the last of the Empire (Destroyers for Bases, sale of Clemson class Destroyers formerly of the United States Navy for British Bases around the world) to fund the 2nd World War
Absolutely mesmerizing!
WW2 nd your fear of getting involved at the start of all the troubles...1936/37.
Artemis Fowl I think that was the plan- part of the reason the world wars were started. Can’t have a hugely powerful and great European Empire at its peak during your globalist takeover.
Its mesmerizing to watch - such a precision beautiful beast of a machine - it's alive!!
Absolutely *gorgeous*👌😀👍 I love older technology and seeing it in working order is just awe-inspiring! Thanks for this video!
Thank you for the video, that's art in motion!
What a monster. It's beautiful...
I'm a machine tender at a papermill and we had the largest machine in the world for several years. We use a lot of steam but it's all for paper drying, there are a few machines that are still steam driven out there and I'd love to go see one before they're either idled or converted to electric motors. This type of stuff is amazing to me and the size and scope of it is awe inspiring, I'd love to operate a machine like that.
Really a treat to come across this. Musical perfection to my ears.
Seeing cast parts that large moving that quickly has always just set my head spinning. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
There is something to be said about having amazing engines such as these actually functioning in an environment where people can see, feel, hear and appreciate what is happening. So much better and more impressive than having them stuffed and mounted on static display.
Very cool. The machinery we need(ed) in our lives and not many know about.
Just to be able to make a tea or have a shower, they had to build and operate such marvels, thank you to everybody who makes our daily lives possible!
P
You do know we don't use those things anymore?
He never said we do.
Hehe, I am of course aware that THIS machine does not power anything (anymore). I was just marveling at the machine and appreciating where our current power generation started. There are still incredible machines at work everywhere to make our lives "easy", and they all are working in the background.
Tea and hot showers were warmed by coal burning in a boiler in the home. No steam engines.
This is just fascinating. Not just the size but the mechanics as well. 😯🤔
Thank you for sharing 👍
Thank you so much for showing and sharing. Priceless for me personally. My grandfather used to work there and in charge of 100 men. It's beautiful and music to my ears just listening 😁🤗👊👊
These may be needed to keep the flood waters back. Absolutely stunning machines, Thanks for the vids...
Thank you for your kind comments
Yeah the new tech is cool and extremely impressive and all, but this is just beautiful. Every piece is there for a reason, and designed to look just as good as the engine itself!
Truly amazing!! Thank you so much for posting this video!!!
Beautiful! Greetings from Germany! 🇬🇧 🇩🇪
Thank you for your kind words
Tiny steam engine used as turning gear for great big steam engine. Fascinating. (I'm used to big diesel engines, which use an electric motor for slow turning and compressed air for starting.)
It's fantastic to see these big engines coming to life, It is also very interesting to see how they start it with the little engine first. It is a credit to those who look after and have restored these engines for all to see. It would have been nice to know what each of those wheels the gentlemen were moving did.