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Stations, Junctions, etc
Engine Sheds
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Handsworth Power Station
Robert Ferris writes, 'I came across this article from
'The Engineer' dated 13th October 1905, which indicates that the Power Station
here had a private siding with weighing facility. I remember going there to
switch in substation housed in the old generation station building in the 1980
and 1990s, when I worked for the MEB. Unfortunately I never took any
photographs of the site and this has now been redeveloped'.
NEW POWER STATION AT HANDSWORTH
At Handsworth, near Birmingham, immediately adjoining the
Soho-road Railway Station of the London and North Western Railway Company, the
Urban District Council of Handsworth have, at a cost of some £50,000,
erected a.handsome new electric light and power station, which was officially
opened on Monday last. The site of the new station was formerly part of the
estate upon which stood the famous old Soho Foundry, which estate was purchased
from a member of the Boulton family.
The engineering work has been placed in the able hands of
Sir Alexander B. W Kennedy and his partner, Mr. Bernard M.Jenkin, who entrusted
the design of the generating station to Messrs. Henman and Cooper, architects,
of Birmingham. The site, in the Piers road, is a central one, with sufficient
area to provide for both present and future needs, and the station has its own
siding connected with the adjoining railway near Soho road Station, so that
coal can be conveyed and delivered by rail straight into the bunkers in front
of the boilers. The slope of the ground has been conveniently taken advantage
of by placing these bunkers and boilers on the lower level, and the building
has been arranged with a temporary end so that it can be extended eastward as
may be needed. The present provision is for three boilers, the heated gases
from which pass through economisers into the stack. Next to the boiler-house is
the engine-room with an initial size of 72ft. by 39ft. The remainder of the
lower floor is occupied by the pump room, stores, men's room, battery room and
Engineer's offices, while an upper floor provides space for the meter room,
drawing office, bath and lavatories, sample rooms, and committee room. The
building has been kept simple in character, and depends for its architectural
effect externally upon the general grouping. The exterior is pleasing, the
louvred gables of the boiler-house being surmounted by the higher roof of the
engine-house, having its termination in the two ventilating turrets, the whole
being dominated by the tall chimney shaft. Red brick and Portland Stone are
used as facing materials. The contractors for the buildings were Messrs.
Wbitehouse and Company, of Monument-road, Birmingham. The three boilers which
have so far been installed are of the water-tube type, and have been made by
the Stirling Boiler Company, Limited, of Motherwell. Each boiler has a grate
area of 31 square feet, and is capable of evaporating 6600 lb. of water per
hour at a pressure of 200 lb. per square inch. The boilers are fitted with
superheaters. There is room in the present boiler-house for four more similar
boilers, or seven in all.
The engine-room is now of sufficient size to contain some
1700 horse-power of machinery. At present there are four vertical high-speed
engines, built by Messrs. Belliss and Morcom, of Birmingham. Two of the engines
are of 150 horsepower each, and two of 200 horsepower each. Each of the smaller
engines drives two dynamos, while the large engines each drive a single large
dynamo. These large dynamos are compound wound, and will supply electric energy
for tramways as well as for lighting. The dynamos have been made by the General
Electric Company, Limited, of Witton, who had the contract for both engines and
dynamos.
The switchboard has been manufactured by Messrs. Ferranti,
of Hollinwood, to the design of the consulting engineers. The total length of
the board is 21ft.; it contains four dynamo panels, one for each of the large
dynamos and one for each pair of small dynamos. There are also four panels for
instruments and switches required in connection with the storage battery, and
in connection with the small "boosters," or motor-driven dynamos-made by
Messrs. Newton, Limited, of Taunton- used for charging or discharging the
battery. There is in addition a blank panel, on which will be fitted the
instruments required by the Board of Trade when the tramways are supplied, and,
finally, at the extreme left-band end of the board there are the feeder panels.
Meters for recording the total electrical output of the dynamos and battery are
arranged against the wall at the back of the main switchboard. The connections
between the dynamos and switchboard and between the switchboard and the end of
the tunnel under the battery room to the outside of the building are almost
entirely of bare copper rod, supported by porcelain insulators from iron
framework. The fire risk is thus reduced to a minimum, as there is an entire
absence of inflammable material about the switchboard. The contract for the
whole of the steam, exhaust, feed, and drain pipes, together with the boiler
feed pumps, a feed heater and economiser, has been carried out by Messrs. John
Spencer and Co., Ltd., of Wednesbury. Messrs. J. P. Hall and Sons, Ltd., of
Peterborough, were sub-contractors for the feed pumps; Messrs. J. Wright and
Co., of Tipton, for the feed heater; and Messrs. Lowcock, Limited, of
Shrewsbury, for the economiser. The battery, which is installed in a separate
room on the north side of and adjoining the engine-room, WM supplied by the
A.B.P. Accumulator Company, Limited, of Stockton-on-Tees. It consists of 256
cells, and has a capacity of 360 ampere-hours; that is to say, it will give an
output equal to that of one of the large engines and dynamos when fully loaded
for about an hour and a quarter. The overhead travelling crane in the
engine-room was supplied by Messrs. John Hitchin and Son, of Halifax, and is
designed for a. working load of 10 tons.
The lighting of the whole of the buildings has been carried
out by the West Bromwich Light and Power Company. Arrangements are made by
which the whole of the station lighting can be switched over to the battery in
case of emergency. With reference to the work outside the generating station,
the mains that have been laid at present for the supply of electric energy for
lighting or power purposes extend over a considerable area of the district from
Hockley to Hamstead Hill, and from the far end of Trinity-road to Wattville
road, or practically from end to end of the urban district. The whole of the
area supplied is divided into separate sections to facilitate the locating of
any fault caused by damage to the mains. The wires are insulated with the best
Manilla paper impregnated with oil, and are covered in special hydraulic
presses-with a seamless lead sheath. These lead -covered cables are laid in
wooden troughs tilled with bitumen and covered with blue Staffordshire tiles.
The normal depth is 12in. under the footways, and at least 2ft. under all road
crossings. All the cables have been manufactured and laid by Messrs. Johnson
and Phillips, Limited, of Old Charlton.
A large number of arc lamps has been provided for the public
lighting of the main thoroughfares. The lamp pillars are of simple yet handsome
design, and were cast by Messrs. Mackenzie Brothers, of Edinburgh. Two small
brackets, each fitted with an incandescent lamp, are provided two-thirds of the
way up each pillar. It is intended to switch off the arc lamps and switch on
the incandescent lamps in their place during the latter part of the night, and
a saving will thus be effected not only in the amount of energy, but in the
cost of carbons for, and in trimming, the arc lamps. The arc lamps ware made by
Messrs. Crompton and Co., Limited., of Chelmsford, who secured the contract for
the lamp pillars and lamps. Provision is made throughout the installation to
ensure the greatest possible economy in the working of the station. With this
object in view the coal is measured by a weighbridge on the siding as it is
delivered in the trucks. The water pumped to the boilers is measured, so that
an accurate record is kept. The current supplied by each dynamo is recorded by
an electrical meter, thus enabling those in charge to know exactly the amount
of power or electrical units generated corresponding to a certain weight of
coal burned and water evaporated. The current supplied to consumers from the
mains in the streets is measured by a. meter placed in each consumer's house.
The readings of all the consumers' meters give the amount of power of
electrical units sold. In this way it is possible to keep an accurate record
from day to day and month to month of the working of the station and to obtain
the best possible efficiency throughout the whole system. Mr. F. A. Nixon has
supervised the whole of the work from the start, including the laying of the
electric mains throughout Handsworth, the erection of the arc lamp posts, and
of the whole of the plant in the generating station, acting as resident
engineer for the consulting engineers - Messrs. Kennedy and Jenkin- and be has
now been appointed by the Council to take charge of the station and of the
supply of electricity, both for power and lighting purposes, in the capacity of
electrical engineer to the Council.
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