Looking back at the 45 years or so of my life spent living within 35 miles of London, I probably went there for touristic reasons approximately three times. OK, I spent about 5 years commuting to and fro and my dear old Dad used to take me regularly to the Tottenham Court Road to buy his collection of crappy ex-military valve radios that I could not even give away 20 years later - this early symptom became a full blown handed down Nikos family syndrome of filling up garages with junk. I remember passing by
Pride and Clark in Stockwell (from where I bought my second motorcycle in 1976, a Yamaha RD200, RD standing for "Run Down").
Preamble over, get to the point Nikos.
Now (I do mean now) I live near Manchester and have decided to visit the place at least three times as a tourist - this is last Saturday's effort supported ably by Mrs Nikos.
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| This is the eclectic Beetham Tower, home of the Manchester Hilton - in the foreground the former Manchester Central station - now GMex conference centre. |
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| This is China Town |
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| Hazard awareness sign post - a swinging tram |
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| MOSI - click here to find out more - A memorial telling us how Manchester used to be the seat of Engineering and scientific excellence. |
A replica of Robert Stephenson's 1830 Planet Locomotive provides joy rides.
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| A wheelchair trike with mobility power and style ------>>click here |
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| Contra rotating propellors on an Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft built at Woodford near Manchester, powered by the RR Griffon "thirsty for fuel and oil, noisy and temperamental with high-maintenance needs. In 1961, these engines needed top overhauls every 400 hours and went through a spate of ejecting spark plugs from their cylinder heads"- sounds like my sort of engine then. Interestingly, the Napier Nomad was earmarked for this aeroplane - a Twelve-cylinder, two-stroke valveless diesel engine compounded with three-stage turbine driving both crankshaft and axial compressor. |
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| The top end of the RR Merlin engine, closely related to the Griffon but with more trouser than mouth designed for performance at higher altitudes - only 48 valve tappet adjustments required every month. |
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| One of two prototype English Electric Lightnings - 0-60mph in 2 seconds and 36,000 feet about 178 secs later. Designed by real men using slide rules. |
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| My BMW cylinder head - only 8 tappets to adjust every 6,000 miles. |
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| In 1954 Metropolitan-Vickers began research into nuclear fusion containment under the curious project code name ZETA - Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly - it never caught on. |
There was some other girly stuff to see at MOSI with textiles and steam engines on display too but we needed to partake in
"High Tea" at the Midland Hotel.
Dear Nikos:
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulously informative blog, clevely illustrated with technical photography, guaranteed to mesmerize any man. I was thoroughly captivated.
1) I am, delighted that the former Manchester train station is now used as a conference center. In the US, most notably Detroit, these are either torn town to accommodate bad chain hotels or left as repositories for pigeon shit. The exception being the Central Rail Road of New Jersey Station, which is now part of the National Park System.
2) Every Chinatown in the world has one of these gates. In Philadelphia, a city best described as a total shit hole, the gate is larger than the Chinese community. For the best, and most authentic Chinese cuisine outside of Beijing, visit Chinatown in New York City, whoch is about 5 times larger than the one in San Francisco.
3) I have lived outside of Philadelphia for 13 years. I have been there 3 times. By contrast, I run up to New York, 90 minutes away, on a regular basis.
New York is famous for great dirty water hotdogs and egg creams. Philly is famous for ruined beef sandwiches dripping with dairy byproducts from a refinery, and at least onbe or two murders per day.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Great pictures. I like the shot of the top end of the Merlin. Years ago, I saw a rolling chassis powered by one. I don't think that the builder had figured out a way to enclose it with bodywork as the chassis was 80% engine.
ReplyDeleteThank you. One of these days I need to make it to England...
Richard
Hi Nikos,
ReplyDeleteI remember the Lightning and the Vulcan, noise and flame you have to see to believe!!
Cheers,
Dave....
Great pictures. I am a sucker for any kind of architecture pictures, old or new. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI, too, found it interesting that the tourist day seemed to partake mainly of mechanical things. (Not that I am complaining.)
ReplyDeleteI definitely would not want to be required to perform 48 tappet adjustments monthly. I'll stick with the 6K miles.
Where are the pictures of pinkies in the air with high tea?
-Steel Cupcake
Good lord, I thought I knew everything about aircraft engines (a favourite subject since childhood) but the Napier Nomad had passed me by! Of course, hybrid aero-engines were pioneered by a Romanian, but I'm sure you already knew that.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for High Tea!!
ReplyDeleteSx
Dear Jack
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where to take Mrs Nikos for the final 2 days of our trip in July and I have just crossed off Philadelphia from the list of one. A former work colleague (he was fired ) told me there is a famous art gallery there so that's another reason not to go.
TTFN, N
Dear RichardM
ReplyDeleteIt was a toss up between showing the Merlin and the Bristol Hercules* but I thought that the tappet theme linked well to my BMW R engine, a classic in its own lunchtime.
thanks for commenting, N
*The Hercules had radial sleeve valves
Dave
ReplyDeleteStone the crows you are still alive! Send regards from Mrs N and I to your luvly Linda!
xsN
Dear Trobairitz
ReplyDeleteI'll try and steer clear of classic aircraft piston engines in future!
thanks for writing in, N
Dearest Lori cup cake steel Beemergirl,
ReplyDeleteMechanical things AND eating
thanks for taking an interest in pinkies too, N
My Dear Gadjo
ReplyDeleteI too learned something too in my post visitation research - that there were 2 versions of the Nomad!
Have you studied the Deltic in detail? The crankshaft gearing mechanism is very crafty and could only have been designed in Acton.
As for Henri Coanda - quite encroyable! The man was a veritable genius in designing a piston engine jet.
Thanks for commenting and I hope that you are keeping very well, N
Dear Ms Blue
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts entirely and I did not mention that we were rudely turned away from the Hilton in this regard - apparently one has to "book" High Tea - what is this "book" thing to half Greeks like us and Julia Bradbury?
xsN
Have you ever been to the Imperial War Museum in London? It is free and they have planes, submarines, tanks and suchlike powerful things to climb in and out of. A lot of fun!
ReplyDeletePS The third photo is so funny.
Nikos:
ReplyDeleteI am only 10 minutes from our City Centre and I hardly ever go downtown. I dislike having to pay for parking
We have the largest Asian population here, with a few Asian Malls. We are known as Hongcouver. The city of Richmond is Virtually the Hong Kong of North America.
I was in Beijing recently and I had a hard time trying to find Chinatown, so it must be non-existant
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Woah, wait, the Nomad was an H-block like the Sabre, wasn't it? I've only ever heard of a Deltic being used in railway locomotives, but I have a feeling that you're gong to prove me gloriously wrong... Coanda may have had the Romanian tendency to 'talk himself up a bit' and it's not certain that the Coanda-1910 engine was ever actually operational. Though Coanda DID discover the Coanda effect whereby lift can be obtained from the souls of dead Hungarians. And a Romanian WAS he first to take off in aircraft under it's own power (and fly all of 12 metres) - the Wrights used a catapult. Co-axial propellers are also a Romanian invention.
ReplyDeleteDear Ulrika
ReplyDeleteI have been to the Imperial war museum in London (years ago) and Manchester(not so many years ago)!
The Manchester place focuses more on human suffering and is housed in rather a unique Polish designed building.
Maybe I should revisit London soon.
Thank you for your kind comments (so many have suddenly appeared)
Bets wishes, N
Dear Bob
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time finding Greeks in Athens these days!
Thanks for commenting, N
Dear Gadjo
ReplyDeleteThe Nomad was a flat 12 (far too simple for Napiers!) - I believe that you are referring the H configuration of the Sabre.
Deltic was originally designed for the Navy small boats (minehunters and fast patrol boats) and was incredibly powerful for its weight and size.
And thanks for the treatise in Romanian aerospace history - I suppose Coanda talked himself up a bit because he lived in the land of the hot air merchants (Gondolphier and all that). I had been involved on the fringes of ROMBAC BaC 1-11s in my longwinded former career in aero engines - did they ever finish one?
kind regards, N
I don't remember 'Griffons ejecting sparking plugs'.....that would have been pretty difficult given where and how they were installed! But I do remember them suffering horrendous lead-fouling due to cruising at constant speed for long periods.....
ReplyDeleteWhile recovering from a M/C crash some 15 years ago I decided to visit the Museums of London to 'improve' myself. I spent a very bored 2 hours in the Victoria and Albert, not getting it at all, and whole days in the National Army Museum , The RAF Museum and the Science Museum.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this proves I am either beyond improvement or not worth saving
Ah, OK, the Delphic Deltic reference was a sashay into the world of non-aero-engines - yes, I'd love to see one, never have. 'Montgolfier'? Yes, indeed, the Gallic aspect would explain everything - for heaven's sake, his parents even christened him 'Henri', he never had a chance. To bring your completely up to speed, here's the missing link in the whole saga of aviation history: Romanian Alexandru Ciurcu propelling himself down the River Seine in 1886 using the world's first 'reaction engine'. The ROMBAC BaC 1-11, oh my G....
ReplyDeleteDear Affer
ReplyDeleteI don't remember Griffons throwing plugs either as I was strictly an RB211 man.
They used to throw fan discs and turbine blades - much more exciting!
Thanks for commenting and setting me straight, N
Young Dai
ReplyDeleteI use Ulrika's aesthetically pleasing blog as a source on inspiration for self improvement and I can commend this post to you
http://ulrikalaan.blogspot.com/2011/01/londons-best-museums-and-galleries.html
Thanks for taking the trouble and nice to hear from you again, N
Dear Gadjo
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure the Romanian "State Office for Inventions and Trademarks" could be if only the link worked.
The 2 men in a boat seems hilarious when you consider the steering apparatus!
Although I spent most of my formative career dealing with the RB211 I used to hear stories from my "Spey" colleague - his time in Romania was quite memorable apparently.
I'm trying very hard to find a schematic of the crankshaft gearing arrangement for the Deltic - a triunph of Acton ingenuity over Junkers.
kind regards, N
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Opposite_piston_engine_anim.gif
ReplyDeleteNot quite what you are looking for - but fun!
Dear Affer
ReplyDeleteThis is an Irish boxer engine!
N
Here is a little gem of a web page but still no Deltic crankshaft gearing!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wis.co.uk/justin/deltic-engine.html
I never knew you lived near Manchester! I also never knew about the Museum of Trade and Industry. I'm up there again over Easter, I shall have to make an effort to do something other than guzzle on my friend Nina's combination of Greek and Croatian cooking!
ReplyDeleteThe Zeta project was obviously before my time, but I know from my days at College that it included welding of the very highest standards. I would love to have done some work on it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for recommending the movie :)
ReplyDeleteI'll search something about ''The Third Man''.
Good Luck.
Ray Davies was a Kink - and he and his brother Dave suffered from some instability.
ReplyDelete