Firth Bros, Shepley New Mill

Image: © Colin Bowden Taken: 22 Mar 1977

Colin Bowden the author of two books on stationary steam engines captured this image of the Wood Bros of Sowerby Bridge inverted vertical triple expansion steam engine at this Yorkshire woollen mill. It was built in 1906 and was installed here, third-hand, in 1939. It was standby from 1959 and is believed to have last run in 1980. It was pressed in to service following the fall of the Emley moor transmitter and in the miners' strikes of the 1970s. It was good for 600 horsepower at 80 rpm and drove the alternator in the right foreground by Vee-belts from the 15' diameter flywheel. It was removed for preservation by the Yorkshire Branch of the Northern Mill Engine Society but a permanent home could not be found and it ended in open air store at a privately owned steam museum. It was scrapped in 2008. It was the very last engine of this type to have worked in a mill (although several water works examples survive).

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