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GREATER LONDON INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY

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Notes and news — June 1993

Visit to Big Ben

On Friday 19th March a group of GLIAS members trooped through Westminster Hall to the base of the Big Ben clocktower, where we met our guide, Mr Brian Davis.

A third of the way up the 340 steps of the square spiral staircase of the tower we stopped to get our breath in a small room, which is used as a prison for those who give offence to Parliament (!) The last person to be incarcerated there overnight was Emmeline Pankhurst, in 1903, following her campaign for Votes for Women.

We eventually reached the bells just before mid-day. The chiming bells, which precede the striking of the hour, were out of action, so when the hour began to strike it took everyone by surprise, even though we knew the time. The sound bow of the bell continues to vibrate long after the hour bell has been finally struck. Forty eight steps below the bells is the clock room where we saw the clock works. The mechanism for operating the chiming bells had been dismantled for maintenance. This is the part of the clock mechanism which was destroyed in 1976. The failure in 1976 was caused by the fly fan shaft of the chiming bells fracturing, which allowed the free fall of the one and a quarter ton driving weight to expend its energy by smashing the clock. The entire end of about four feet of the 20-inch lattice cast-iron girders was replaced, and the join is apparent but well matched to the existing frame. Not much of the pendulum can be seen apart from the cock and fly fan, the legendary pile of coins on the regulating tray is quite visible. The addition of one old penny (1oz weight) increases the going rate by 2/5 second in 24 hours.

Everyone found it an enjoyable experience to walk behind the very famous clock dials which are synonymous with the image of Great Britain. Our thanks to Mr Brian Davis for a very interesting and well informed experience. This visit was very popular and had to be repeated in May. Apologies go to those members who were unable to get a place. Charlie Thurston

Battersea Power Station

At midday on Friday 26 February 1993 Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's famous art deco Battersea Power Station became the property of the Hwangs, a Hong Kong property owning family (GLIAS Newsletter April 1993). Mr Victor Hwang, one of two brothers who have been negotiating the purchase of the site, has expressed an intention that the power station will not be demolished. Further developments are awaited. Bob Carr

Refurbished Finsbury Park to Battersea buses

The number 19 bus service running from Finsbury Park to Battersea was until 23 April 1993 operated by London General red-painted Routemaster buses and exceptionally a Routemaster painted in old style London General livery. Now Kentish bus have taken over the service with 20 maroon and cream refurbished Routemasters.

This is the first traditional open platform conductor operated service to be put out to competitive tender and more can be expected. The Routemasters used by Kentish bus are leased from London Transport. A bold route diagram on the side of the buses makes very clear where the number 19 runs and the distinctive new livery makes a number 19 bus stand out visually at a very great distance, even in central London.

The continued use of Routemaster buses through extensive refurbishment, probably beyond the year 2000, can be regarded as a strong example of adapative re-use. These aged buses, some dating from the 1960s, {C and D registrations — first time round} are very much working industrial archaeology even if no longer in original condition. Bob Carr

Wandle water mills

It might surprise readers to learn that even now there are still four water wheels in situ on the River Wandle, at one time the hardest worked London river with as many as 200 water wheels in use. At Ravensbury Mill, off Morden Road (TQ 265 682), there are two breastshot wheels inside the building. At present they are not accessible to the general public but it is hoped the mill will become the new home of the Wandle Industrial Museum.

Further north in Morden Hall Park you can see the paddle-less remains of a breastshot water wheel on the side of the 18th-century brick-and-weatherboard East Mill (TQ 261 686) formerly used to grind snuff. The wheel on the corresponding West Mill was removed in 1968. The atmosphere inside snuff mills was choking and GLIAS members had experience of this in Sheffield during a visit to the working water-powered Sharrow Mills (GLIAS Newsletter December 1986).

Further north still at the former Liberty Silk printing works site, Merton Abbey (TQ 265 698), is a well restored undershot water wheel about 15ft wide and 12ft diameter which would have developed about 15 horsepower. This used to drive rinsing spools and dates from about 1840. To the south east of this wheel the former Liberty factory buildings are now bookshops and premises selling arts and crafts and there is a public house. A walk following the River Wandle can be recommended. Bob Carr

Holloway Road Underground station

In 1906 a spiral passenger escalator built by Reno Electric Stairways and Conveyors Ltd was installed in a shaft at Holloway Road underground station on the Piccadilly Line. It was not a success and was probably unused by the travelling public.

The first successful underground escalators were those at Earl's Court installed in 1911.

As part of refurbishment work at Holloway Road it is intended to cut what remains of the spiral escalator there into sections and part will go to the London Transport Museum.

The existence of remains of the pioneer escalator at Holloway Road is quite well-known being noted in Industrial Monuments of Greater London, Thames Basin Archaeological Observers' Group (1969), page 36. Bob Carr

PLUTO

Over one year ago (GLIAS Newsletter April 1992), a question was raised concerning the origin of some of the pumps in the basement of Deptford East Power station (now demolished). It was claimed that these may have come second-hand from the PLUTO (pipe line under the Ocean) project.

As far as I can determine, the last new plant to be installed in the original building of Deptford East station was in 1937. However, when the electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948, the newly formed British Electricity Authority constructed a large extension to the power station, which became known as Deptford East HP (High pressure). The original building became the LP (Low power) station. It seems likely therefore that any pumps 'surplus to Government requirements' at the end of WWII, which were purchased by the BEA, could only have been installed in the HP station. Perhaps Bob Carr could clarify which part of the power station he has in mind.

We have now passed the 50th anniversary of the conception of submarine pipe lines across the English Channel to supply petrol to the Allied Armies of Liberation for their advance across France and Belgium into Germany. Two novel methods of conveying the petrol were employed; the first, known as HAIS (Hartley, Anglo-Iranian, Siemens) cable, and the second as the HAMEL (Hammick, Ellis) steel pipe. Two crossing points were chosen, one between Dungeness and Boulogne, the other between the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg. Eleven HAIS and six HAMEL Jines wers laid from Dungeness. Only four lines were installed from Sandown and Shanklin to the French coast but the distance involved was of course much greater. The Isle of Wight pumping installation at Sandown consisted of sixteen reciprocating and two centrifugal pumps, and at Shanklin, eight reciprocating and two centrifugal pumps, these stations being cross-connected by two HAMEL line loops laid out to sea and back again. Thus if either of the installations at Sendown or Shanklin had been 'blitzed' the other could have taken over. At Dungeness, thirty reciprocating and four centrifugal pumps, designed for 1,500 lb. per sq. in. pressure, were installed at three well-dispersed sites along the coast and were fed from the land-line system.

The reciprocating pumps were made by Messrs Frank Fearn Ltd and delivered approximately 40 Imperial gallons per minute, when running at a speed of 45 r.p.m. They were driven by V-ropes by 60 h.p. 'Caterpillar engines. The centrifugal pumps were made by Mather & Platt Ltd. and delivered 214 Imperial gallons a minute, and were driven by 500 h.p. motors.

This article has only touched on some of the main events of the time. For a fuller account see the paper 'Operation Pluto', read before the Royal Society of Arts, by A.C. Hartley on 14th November 1945. Bill McNair

The London Canal Museum

The London Canal Museum opened a year ago on Battlebridge Rasin, King's Cross. It presents the story of the Regent's Canal, in particular, and hopes to show much more in due course. A former Carlo Gatti ice house and stables, it has two large ice wells circa 1860 in the basement. It is open from 10.00 am to 4.30 pm. most days except Mondays, at 12/13 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RT (tel 071-713 0836). The museum is run voluntarily, and it needs part-time (paid) staff and helpers. Anyone who might be interested in helping please contact Malcolm Tucker (071-272 7160). Malcolm Tucker

Science Museum Reserve Collections

The Science Museum is closing its store in the warehouse at Hayes, which GLIAS visited in August 1975. The larger objects are packed up awaiting transfer to the store at Wroughton Airfield, near Swindon, while more portable items have been moved to the old Post Office Savings Bank headquarters at Blyth Road, W.14. next to Olympia, which we visited in June 1991.

Members of the Newcomen Society visited Blyth Road in March this year, and saw various items that have been transferred there since the GLIAS visit. Machine tools, under the care of Michael Wright, include for instance (Sir) Marc Brunel's remarkable series of block-making machines of 1802 onwards from Portsmouth Dockyard, and stock-making machines of 1853 by the Ames Manufacturing Co, Massachusetts, which were used until recently at The Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, to shape the woodwork of rifles.

The bulk of the civil engineering, mechanical handling and mining collection under the care of Robert McWilliam is now, or will be, housed at Wroughton, for reasons of size. The smaller items have been shoe-horned into metal racks in a mezzanine store at Blyth Road and arranged in the order of the Universal Decimal Classification (!) They include various models which have been on display in former years, from roof trusses and arch-centering to earth-moving machines, coal tipplers and irrigation sluices. There are also some full-size samples of building materials, and fastenings of all sorts from door locks to zip fasteners. Building services, public health and water supply are covered, and include a large collection of water meters. The mining collection covers all aspects from shaft sinking to ore dressing, with some intriguing models, although there is an excess of safety lamps and breathing apparatus. Robert very much regrets that post 1960 full-face mechanisation of the coal mines is not represented, and he fears never will be, as equipment is abandoned underground.

The Science Museum is aware that the major part of its collection will never be put on public display, and it is anxious to encourage more access to the reserve collections, both by organised parties, and by individuals with particular interests. The computerised catalogue of the collections is available in the Science Museum Library for all to refer to. Malcolm Tucker

Iron roof over boiler house, Kew Bridge Waterworks

Contractors have recently completed a major overhaul of the iron roof of the former main boiler house at Kew Bridge Waterworks (Kew Bridge Steam Museum). This was the first stage of a programme to repair all the roofs of this group of Grade I listed buildings, to English Heritage specifications, and contrary to Newsletter 144, the historic fabric has been scrupulously kept, apart from broken slates, etc. Discreet repairs have been made to the metalwork, with local strengthening there had been damage from heavy objects hung from the tie bars.

Erected in 1937, the wrought-iron roof trusses are of particular interest. They are examples of a design that was simple to construct and therefore seems to have been quite widely used in the period circa 1815 to circa 1845, until ousted by more sophisticated designs developed for railways and dockyards. The essential feature is that they are constructed entirely of flat bars, with bolted connections. At Kew there are 3 spans, each of 23 feet, in the configuration - nowadays known as a Fink truss (with two inclined hangers from the apex to near the third points of the tie bar, and short struts from there to the centre points of the rafters). The rafters are nominally 3 inches deep by three eighths of an inch thick, a size that was standard in all the roofs of this type that I have come across and indicates a common origin. Iron battens to support the slates, one and a quarter inches by three eighths, are wedged into half-inch deep notches in the rafters, which are at 3 foot 3 inch centres. The apex has a cast-iron gusset plate with sockets into which the rafters are bolted, a feature patented in 1815 by Richard Tomlinson of Bristol, who may have originated this family of trusses. The story may be traced back further to Thomas Pearsall's trusses of 3 inch by one eighth inch hoop iron, patented in 1811. The various examples I have found have differences in the details, and at Kew boiler house the inclined hanger bars are not connected to the gusset plate but to the rafters on each side, and cross over each other like scissors.

The struts at the quarter points are pairs of flats, spaced slightly apart and rivetted together, for greater resistance to buckling. For the rafters, the narrow bar section is relatively inefficient in compression and bending, but the battens ovide lateral stability and it served well for moderate spans. James Wellington of ristol built several longer span roofs of wrought-iron flats in the 1820s with mixed success, and his 60 foot, span roof over the Brunswick Theatre, Wellclose Square, collapsed on the opening night, 28th February 1828, with loss of life. (His rafters there were only 1 inch deeper than at Kew, but the iomediate cause of failure was the hanging of & carpenter's shop and two tiers of flies from the roof tie bars, without the designer's knowledge.) More efficient angles and tees were not widely used in roofs until the 1840s, probably for reasons of availability and expense. Although Charles Fox introduced tees in his trend-setting but expensive roofs over Euston Station in 1837, pairs of flats spaced apart with a timber sandwich were used by experienced engineers on some 50-foot spans well into the railway age (Bricklayers' Arms Station 1843, King's Cross Goods Station 1850, Saltaire Mill 1853), implying a continued economic advantage for simple forms and details. At Battersea Waterworks, Kirtling Street, GLIAS members recently found 17 foot span trusses, possibly of 1846, in which the struts and battens were light rolled angles but the rafters were still 3 inch by three eighths inch flats. There are two other iron roofs at Kew Bridge, on the 1837 engine house and the 1846 boiler house extension. It's worth going and having a look above one's head. Malcolm Tucker

Restoration in Islington

The former cattle market in Islington is to be restored. Should you know the whereabouts of any of the cast-iron bulls heads which adorned the piers and are about one foot tall, complete with horns, David Gibson (071 226 2207) would like to know, so that copies can be made. Malcom Tucker

From the New River Action Group

Construction of the new wells is finished and testing will be complete by Easter. The first pump-houses, at Hoe Lane North, Ridge Avenues North and South, Bethune Road, Lordship Road and Green Lanes are almost completed and work started in March on those at Hazelwood Lane, Whittington Road (Alexandra Palace), Station Road, Hornsey Sluice House and Eade Road.

Work is also in hand to return to use the wells at the old pumping stations at Hoe Lane South and Highfield Road, which are to be renovated, as will be the old well-house at Hornsey Campsbourne. Water has been flowing from the original source of the New River, Chadwell Spring, since early November last year when the groundwater levels recovered. The area is now in its normal condition.

Hydraulic buffer stops

The report into the Cannon Street crash of 8th January 1991 focused some of its attention on the inadequacy of the buffer stops. Cannon Street was fitted with a type of hydro-pneumatic buffer stop with what appear to be short-stroke telescopic rams. They have now been augmented by friction buffers.

The hydraulic buffer was patented by Alfred A Langley, chief engineer of the Greal Eastern Railway, in 1880 (Patent No. 4449 of 1880). Manufacture was taken up by Ransomes & Rapier of Ipswich and the first examples were installed at Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street. Each cylinder, 12 inches in diameter by 4 feet stroke, was filled with water. The piston had slots through which ran tapered bars. As the piston moved backwards the sints became smaller, increasing the pressure of the water at the back of the cylinder, bringing the train to a halt. A supply of water at 35 psi to the front of the cylinder allowed automatic re-setting after use. The first version had cross-heads or beans across the buffer enn but these were soon abandoned. Later versions had a stroke of at least 5 feet, which Ransomes regarded as the minimum to stop a train travelling at 6 m.p.h. Indeed Ransomes were very critical of the London & North Western Railway version which had a stroke of only feet 6 inches, describing it as practically useless'. The LNWR's first hydraulic buffers, at Manchester Exchange, had a stroke of only 2 feet.

There are still a few hydraulic buffers to be found in London. Waterloo has the best collection, every platform from No. 1 to No. 17 being fitted with Ransomes & Rapier examples each of 7 foot stroke. They date from 1909/10 and are said to be capable of stopping a 400-ton train at 10 m.p.h. Recently friction buffers have been placed in front of the hydraulics. Hopefully this is not a prelude to their removal. At St Pancras there are hydraulic buffers at the ends of platforms 5, 6 & 7, but the cylinders are hidden inside timber covers. The GWR fitted hydraulic buffers by Ransomes & Rapier on three new platforms at Paddington - No. 12 in 1913, No. 11 in 1915 and No. 10 in 1916. These too survive. There are a few examples on London Underground. On platform No. 1 at Baker Street the two cylinders are concealed behind a wall. Projecting piston rods are connected by a timber beam to which are attached two timber buffers. The timber beam is supported by a frame which runs on four small wheels on the rails. Platform 4 has a similar pair, but with the cylinders exposed to view.

Another type found on London Underground is the single, oil-hydraulic cylinder centrally placed between the rails. There is a supporting wheel, with its own rail, at the buffer end. Buffer stops of this type can be found at Ealing Broadway, Platforms 7, 8 & 9. They are by Ransomes & Rapier and dated 1891. Similar devices can be seen at Queen's Park (at the end of one of the tracks through the western shed), at Mansion House (at the east end of platform 2) and at Putney Bridge. Does any member know of other surviving hydraulic buffers in London? Anyone who wants to see an LNWR example will have to travel to Rugby or Crewe. Tim Smith

All change at King's Cross again

With the abandonment of BR's original plans for the Chunnel link, Union Railways a BR subsidiary has bounced back with two further proposals. Sounds familiar, then read on. The line follows a more northerly route through Kent and crosses the Thames at Thurrock following the existing Tilbury line to Barking. From Barking west two variants are proposed. The first tunnels through to Stratford, a major works site and potential station, crosses the Lea in tunnel and then approximately traces the North London Line until it emerges on the southern pair of lines west of Mildmay Park. NLL services are diverted to the northern lines and stations west of Dalston Kingsland and some bridges will be rebuilt. It then curves off the NLL route through the NW corner of King's Cross Goods Yard and into St Pancras Station. The northern group of gasholders and St Pancras waterpoint would be lost. International facilities will be located to the rear of St Pancras Chambers and access in the barrel vaults. As Eurostar trains are longer than the trainshed it is uncertain how the extended platforms would be canopied. The rumoured threat to St Pancras lock has gone, though St Pancras Basin might be lost during construction. The subsurface station is retained, but for Thameslink only.

The alternative route is underground all the way west from Barking runs north of version 1 to the Stratford site and then south under Victoria Park, roughly along the canal before sweeping in a curve under Finsbury to interconnect with planned subsurface station.

Significantly, the line is not to be promoted by the new public enquiry procedure, but by a hybrid bill in Government time. GLIAS is currently working on a walk for the Goods Yard area, but there should be adequate time to do it before work starts. Charles Norrie

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© GLIAS, 1993