Chris G
At a guess they could have been gas fired like the one at Kew bridge pumping station, as the firetubes appear to be blocked. However it seems odd, given how well preserved everything else is that all the boiler fittings (water gauges etc) are missing; perhaps they were for standby use and never got used? Bit of a mystery!
vikram
2 know all about area 19 and 51
Burlyvole
Well when the Spring Quarry was made into an aircraft engine factory they needed heat and hot water so the made two bolierhouse for the complex.The boilerhose in Spring Quarry is still there sealed of because of asbestos, the one in the bunker was enlarged and four of the boilers removed to make way for the Mirlees engines, they were coal fired and later oil fired. About 1973 a new boilerhose was built on the surface which supplied the underground areas
Alex Prentice
I am interested as to how these boilers came to be here.. They are of the lancashire fire tube type that were produced from the late 1880's onwards to about 1930!! There's no indication here as to how they are fired, sorely an istallation would have used a self managing "package" boiler a used in marine installations etc etc as these Lancashire boilers are not easy to maintain!!!! and also very outdated by the time this place was built!!!
Burlyvole
All the Mirlees engines are located in area 19 which is the old boilerhouse side by side.
A few facts Mirlees JVSS12 diesel 1428bhp 750rpm driving Brush alternater sets at 11kv 1250kva.
They would have coped with the requirements of the site.
Stephen Eyles
I agree with you, John. The generators in pictures 3 and 4 are in different locations (or they did a good job cleaning the rust between pics!)
Of course they are massive from a layman's view, but peanuts to those of us who work in generation & distribution...
John Pett
Not at all "massive" by marine standards. Assume this was only one of several power generation facilities. By size these two generators probably not capable of developing more than 2,000kW combined. Not enough for the stated size of the entire estate.
