2011

TL8308 : Museum of Power - gauge board

taken 12 years ago, near to Langford, Essex, England

Museum of Power - gauge board
Museum of Power - gauge board
This is not only functional but borders on being a work of art. It is on the Lilleshall triple expansion pumping engine, serial No. 282 that was built in 1930 and commissioned in January 1931.
The gauges are as follows:-
Top row, left to right. Vacuum in inches of Mercury. This shows the vacuum being achieved in the engine's surface condenser. An absolute vacuum is about 30 inches but the engine would probably be drawing around 27-28 inches at best. Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. This would be total inlet steam temperature including a degree of superheat. I understand there was 150 degrees of superheat and from my steam tables that corresponds to a total temperature of about 540 degrees at 210 pounds per square inch. Steam pressure in pounds per square inch (psi). The boilers supplied steam at 210 psi.

Second row, left to right. Low lift pump delivery, low lift pump suction, high lift pump suction and high lift pump delivery. These are all measured in feet of water and all the gauges start at zero - that is, there are no negative heads involved. The low lift delivery head was 30 feet (but friction would have probably added a little) and the high lift delivery head varied between 240 and 300 feet.

Bottom row, left to right. Second reheater pressure in psi. This reheated the steam between the intermediate and low pressure cylinders. Revolution counter, mechanically counted each revolution of the engine and would allow the daily quantity pumped to be calculated (with an allowance for slip). It is a seven figure counter so I am sure it will have 'been around the clock' several times as the engine ran 24/7. Finally, first reheater pressure in psi. This is on the reheater between the high and intermediate pressure cylinders.

Nowadays it would be multichannel digital on a laptop but nowhere near as good looking.
Langford Steam Pumping Station (Museum of Power) :: TL8309

Former late 1920s steam pumping station built to supply fresh water to the growing population of Southend. The station housed 3 (originally 2) Lilleshall vertical triple expansion steam engines. Sadly only one survives but it, and the remaining buildings, provide an excellent setting for the museum of power. The museum houses a nice and precise collection of steam and internal combustion engines.

It is recommended (by myself) to combine a visit here with the nearby Beeleigh water mill (in the same grid square). Thus seeing two in situ steam engines, one from the 1830s and one from the 1930s!


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Educational sites Place: Langford Primary Subject: Machine other tags: Museum of Power Stationary Steam Engine Steam Engine (Preserved) Instrumentation Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Lilleshall Steam Pumping Engine [22] · High Pressure [5] · Low Lift Pumps [3] · Reheater [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
TL8308, 139 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Chris Allen   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 2 October, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 7 June, 2020
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 8357 0898 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:44.9661N 0:39.4739E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 8357 0898
View Direction
North-northeast (about 22 degrees)
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Image Type (about): inside 
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