A picture taken without the benefit of flash and against the internal lighting, it still shows the gas turbine-driven alternator and in the background those beautiful gas motors that used to thud out night and day! This was a most beautiful building inside and although the picture doesn’t show it very well, the whole of the back wall was covered in 1900’s instrumentation. The floor was red earthenware tiles and there was lots of Victorian/Edwardian woodwork. Steven Partlett advises: “I worked in this building many times as an apprentice, and later as an electrician. There was a second turbo alternator below the photographer. I would suspect the photograph has been taken from the overhead crane. You had to make sure your boots were clean before walking on the tiles around the sets, otherwise you were given a mop and told to remove traces of where you had been ! I am reasonably sure the turbo alternators were steam driven, not gas turbines. Only the old generators in the background were run on gas. The lighting in this building never was very good.” Terry Robinson supports with: “There were two steam turbines in the power house, I believe they were made by Parsons of Newcastle. The main unit was a 7500 kw machine, also in the power house there were two English Electric diesel generator sets for use during peak time demand.”
Image courtesy of Reg Dunning, thanks to Steven Partlett and Terry Robinson for the updates.
I worked in this building many times as an apprentice, and later as an electrician. There was a second turbo alternator below the photographer. I would suspect the photograph has been taken from the overhead crane. You had to make sure your boots were clean before walking on the tiles around the sets, otherwise you were given a mop and told to remove traces of where you had been ! I am reasonably sure the turbo alternators were steam driven, not gas turbines. Only the old generators in the background were run on gas. The lighting in this building never was very good
Steve is correct, there were two steam turbines in the power house, I believe they were made by Parsons of Newcastle. The main unit was a 7500 kw machine, also in the power house there were two English Electric diesel generator sets for use during peak time demand.