Brockhall Hospital power house

Image: © Chris Allen Taken: 9 Jan 1993

This large hospital at Old Langho was closed but the boiler house was still in use until the kitchens at the new site were commissioned. This happened about 2 months later and this site was cleared and is now Brockhall Village. This is the power house and contained six calorifiers, five turbine driven circulating pumps, a steam fire pump, a steam driven alternator and the boiler feed pumps. On the left of this view the red casing is the fire pump that was built by Worthington Simpson in 1938 and powered by a steam turbine by the Mirrlees Watson Company, Glasgow. Next along, the green device is a Belliss & Morcom inverted vertical compound (enclosed) steam engine driving a General Electric company alternator. The engine is a V10s with cylinders 14.5" and 21" bores x 9" stroke. It developed 220 horsepower at 428 rpm. It ran as a back-pressure engine with the exhaust steam in the orange pipes being used to heat the calorifiers (an energy efficient way of doing things). On the extreme right is a Weir boiler feed pump (No. B16336 of 1938). Its twin that stood to its left had been replaced by duplicated electric pumps with green/gold coloured motors. How I would like to find something like this today!

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