IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Damson Close, BLACKBURN, BB6 8HL

At the end of this winding road there is a very interesting shaped house

This is the boiler house of the boiler house/power house complex of this now demolished hospital. This shows the top of five of the six Lancashire boilers - two with original mechanical stokers and four converted to gas. There was a huge bank of Green's economisers at the rear (in a separate room to the left). On the far wall below the red railings was a steam turbine for emergency stoker drive (a more unlikely combination I would be hard pushed to come up with). The yellow plumbing on the left is the gas supply for the burners. The green plumbing is for the boiler feedwater. The red and silver plumbing is for live steam from the boilers. This latter is curved to accommodate expansion (an important factor that should never be forgotten). We were very lucky to see this about two months before it closed down for good. If you want to enjoy a similar view now you need to head to Claymills Victorian Pumping Station.

This large hospital at Old Langho was largely closed but the boiler house and kitchens were still active, although closure was imminent. This little room near the base of the chimney had originally housed a Belliss and Morcom steam engine driving an induced draught fan. It latterly housed this turboalternator as a backup power supply that was not really run in. It is now doing service at Markham Grange Nurseries where waste wood provides steam to generate the power needed to run the nursery. Excess is exported to the grid. The unit was built by APE Allen Ltd of Bedford in 1982 as works No. T5/57826 and developing 200kW.

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). How I would like to find something like this today!

This large hospital at Old Langho has now been demolished and replaced by Brockhall Village. Although only a few weeks from final closure the boiler house and adjoining power house were in excellent order. These are the boiler feed pumps. Originally there were two identical G & J Weir simplex pumps built in 1938 but the one on the left has been replaced by duplicated motor driven pumps. The one on the right is clearly not in use on closer examination as its steam plumbing is incomplete.

This large hospital complex has now been demolished and replaced by Brockhall Village. The boiler house was still in use feeding the kitchens that were still supplying a new hospital. Final closure was imminent. The boiler house contained six Lancashire boilers and the power house contained six calorifiers, five turbine driven pumps, a turbine driven fire pump, a steam engine driven alternator and the feed pumps. A separate room by the base of the chimney contained an emergency turboalternator. These are the two smaller pumps driven by Turney turbines that were on the hot water system. The exhaust steam in the orange pipes could be used at low pressure in the calorifiers. This is an energy efficient system

This large hospital at Old Langho has now been demolished and replaced by Brockhall Village. The boiler house was still in use for the kitchens that were still supplying a new hospital. The boiler house had six Lancashire boilers - two still had coal firing with mechanical stokers and four were gas fired. Only one gas fired boiler was in use. This little steam turbine with a vee-belt drive was the emergency backup drive for the mechanical stokers. I cannot believe it had seen much use.

This hospital has now been demolished and this visit was towards the end of its life when most had closed but the kitchens were still working for a nearby new hospital. These three Turney turbines drove pumps for the heating system that used 8.5 miles of underground tunnels. Two smaller pumps were used on the hot water system. This was a superb boiler house and power house complex and was probably one of the last survivors.

This is the boiler house of the boiler house/power house complex of this now demolished hospital. This shows one of the six Lancashire boilers - two with original mechanical stokers and four converted to gas. There was a huge bank of Green's economisers at the rear. On the wall towards the top of the image was a steam turbine for emergency stoker drive (a more unlikely combination I would be hard pushed to come up with). We were very lucky to see this about two months before it closed down for good.