billh

I've got one of those, 48 years old now and still floating (well it was yesterday)?

I understand that final set up of timing etc on the engine was done by measuring exhaust gas temperature at each cylinder. Large engines have thermometers at each cylinder port permanently fitted to facilitate this. A bit of a task on a 16cylinder engine with individual pumps!

If and when I have to have an electric car,my sounder chip ,if I had a choice, would be programmed with the sound of an English Electric 16SVT diesel running max 750 rpm . 4 turbos spooling up as I pull away from the lights, awesome?

Hi, I'm in need of J2 bits, will PM you later, thanks. Got to go and polish the F2 now.... Bill

Not quite the same i think. Propulsion is by side paddle wheels, rather than by hauling itself along the cables(not chains). The cables are only there to guide the "Floating Bridge" from one side of the river to the other and prevent it from being swept out to sea or up river to Totnes depending on the tide! No steering is necessary or provided. Just had a look , you are right , the latest incarnation of the Floating Bridge appears to wind itself along, I was being a bit historic.Not only that , I was on the thing last year. Ignore me!?

There's a Ron Tinker built boat on our moorings, 1980 built, sound as a pound. Bow and stern rather bluff and unusual to maximize internal space. I've seen a few others by him over the years, he would build to your preferences rather than some standard design. I think his son still runs the business.

Revs to 3000, very very noisy. Used for portable generators mostly, like for powering Kango hammers (even more noise) . But light weight and compact for a diesel. Suitable in an emergency at sea in a lifeboat?. I wouldn't like to put up with one going down the cut for hours. Too small for dumpers - they had Petter AVA and PH 1 or 2.

Was it used in a genset? For 50HZ (AC)output a 6(?)pole generator would need to run at an accurately controlled 1500rpm, hence the electric throttle/governor control and the HP de-rating from normal max RPM combined with 10% de-rating for continuous full electrical load duty.

River section of the Caldon Canal to Consall? Also about 1974. Not sure how much restoration was required though.

Our 10RB shovel had a 3/8 cubic yard bucket , i think your 10 cu yard estimate is a bit high! The model number is vaguely related to the weight of the machine. There was no 12RB but more than 10,000 22RBs were built- much beloved in olden days by demolition contractors swinging an iron ball on a 90ft boom. RBs were built at the factory in Lincoln ,Priestman's built their own cranes and excavators and were quite different in design. I do like the 1RB reference, not heard that before?

Do you mean the Bollin aqueduct breach in 1972? Peel were nowhere near the Bridgewater then. The canal then belonged to the Manchester Ship Canal Co, they bought the Bridgewater for £1.7m in the 1880s so they had an income stream to help fund the new canal. The Manchester Corporation later bailed out the MSC Co so the canal could be completed and held a majority on the MSC Board until 1980something when they eventually sold out to Peel, a decision effectively made by the Corporation.

American oak is often used for bespoke internal structures like staircases in houses. It looks superb and is stable . The downside is that it is porous and totally unsuited for exterior use, won't last long at all. A bit since iI did a test with a small piece- you can blow air through the wood into a glass of water- I didn't believe it till I tried. On the other hand, English or European oak lasts much better, though there are issues as stated above with keeping paint on it, all tree wood moves about a lot according to seasons. I am not convinced of the quality of any modern plywood, even so-called expensive "marine" grade., in my experience it delaminates in a few years no matter how much treatment, paint or preservative you bung on it. One possibility is re-cycled plastic boards, though movement due to temperature change is more than wood.

The Lucas magneto on our Kelvin was salvaged from a scrapper Vedette s/v engine. The mag is unusual, the coil is encased in epoxy resin instead of varnish impregnation. It never seems to suffer from damp problems.(not saying anything about other difficulties!)

That's really sad, the loss of a great service. We've just had Joel's sterngear overhauled at Crowther's, they supplied it new, with refurbished prop over thirty years ago, it has survived a lot of rubbish and junk from the bottom of the canal in that time, a testimony to quality. A little story; I was at Crowther's some years ago when a guy came in carrying a damaged prop. He arrived by taxi from Manchester Airport, having flown in specially from somewhere in the Med.. His boat had gone on rocks and bent the blades. Keith was on it straightaway and it was fixed, I think same day or day after , brilliant! Thank you Keith & Amanda and best wishes for the future.

That's interesting. We have here an ex GPO genset 88kVa, originally from an exchange . The engine is a Dorman 8LB straight 8 diesel, runs to 100HP at 1000rpm for 50Hz. When we got it , around 1978, it had 400 hours on the clock. It had very little use after that , supplying 3ph 415v when needed until we got a 3ph shore supply. At the time I was told that Dorman only ever made 3 of the 8LBs as there was a problem with the long crankshaft waggling about. Plenty of the lesser cylindered LBs were made. Do you have any experience of the 8LB?

The 2cwt. weights have special significance to one's lumbar regions if they have to be moved! The boat was moored with us in the last century, I assisted the skilled artisans with labouring on various maintenance works on the boat over the years.

Has she still got the big Lister (HA2), wooden bottom and 2cwt(100kg) ballast weights under the floor? IIRC, a lot of work was done on the boat at Runcorn ,early 80s , not sure if that was when the stern and steering was altered. If she still has composite construction, some of the planks at the fore-end are relatively new, about 15 years.

If you mean RFS2 then I may be able to help. The 'S' is the industrial or Stationary version of the RF2. Is it in a loco or generating set or something else? None been made since 1960.

Alan and Heather Snowden's other films, mostly on railways in 1960's , are excellent. eg: Woodhead Railway cab ride or the colliery railway at Seaham in 1963. I remember seeing one of S & K's boats being loaded at the Chance glass works in 1972. Two men shovelling a heap of broken glass into the boat while the horse grazed on a little patch of grass nearby.

Nope. wasn't me,I was at home watching Banana Splitz (q Mike Harding: "who knocked down the walls of Jericho?"?) further explanation gets complicated.......

Ha! The information about RCHS and Marsden above was mostly a result of listening to one of Ian's lectures a few years ago. he showed similar pictures(maybe the same ones?). Earlier this year I was co-opted as consulting engineer to a scheme for Ian's internal transport at the Marple care centre, with a customer specification for it to be "economical". That sadly didn't work out, the proposed electric vehicle had been too long in storage .