IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Royston Mains Street, EDINBURGH, EH5 1LA

Heading west.

The older houses to the right of the road are pre-WW2. As they are not far from the old LMS railway line, I wonder if the railway company named the road after one of its major bases? One of a series of photos taken from the top deck of a bus heading from Granton into Edinburgh.

The National Museums of Scotland have a huge collection centre that includes several full size steam engines that are roughly assembled and allow the researcher to gain a feel for the scope of machinery collected over many years. This particular engine is a horizontal tandem compound by Hick, Hargreaves of Bolton and used in an Aberdeen textile mill. Brian Hillsdon adds the following: - The original site was Crombie's Grandholm Mills. It was first in preservation by 1975 at Scottish Society for the Preservation of Historical Machinery store at Coplawhill. In 1984 it went to the museum's [National Museum of Scotland] store at Newbattle, dismantled outdoors. In 1995 it came here [Granton] and was re-erected unrestored. In front of it is a Tangye special pump and in the background is the 1825 beam engine from Cobb's Brewery, Margate. The red lump through the flywheel is a steam navvy.

This is a large indoor store for the National Museum of Scotland and I was fortunate enough to arrange a visit while on holiday in that part of the world. I understand the building is a lot more crowded now. It is a vast improvement on the old store that I visited at Newbattle Abbey or thereabouts. The main focus of this photograph is a massive steam powered vacuum pump built in 1920 by Harvey Engineering company of Glasgow. This was used at the Thames Refinery, Silvertown of Tate & Lyle. This worked until 1976 and was used to draw the vacuum on a set of multiple effect evaporators as part of the sugar refining process. It is very basic, solid engineering for 1920. The big cylinder on the right is the vacuum pump and is fitted with a slide valve for maximum effectiveness. It is easy to mistake it for a steam cylinder but this engine only has one steam cylinder (to the left).

The National Museums of Scotland have a huge collection centre that includes several full size steam engines that are roughly assembled and allow the researcher to gain a feel for the scope of machinery collected over many years. This particular engine is a horizontal tandem compound of c400 horsepower and built in 1923 by James Carmichael & Co Ltd of Dundee for Wemyss Sawmills, Leven. It was removed in 1981.

This 6 column tank bed beam engine used to be on display in the Royal Scottish Museum but is now in store at Granton. This was built in 1825 by an unknown maker (possibly Boulton and Watt) and was bought from the Receiver of Wrecks for use in the Margate brewery of Mr Cobb, starting work in 1826. it is therefore known as Cobb's Brewery Engine. The cylinder is 15.25" bore by 3- stroke and the flywheel is 10' diameter. It apparently ran at 25 rpm on steam at 25 psi. I believe this store is now much more crowded.

This 6 column tank bed beam engine used to be on display in the Royal Scottish Museum but is now in store at Granton. This was built in 1825 by an unknown maker (possibly Boulton and Watt) and was bought from the Receiver of Wrecks for use in the Margate brewery of Mr Cobb, starting work in 1826. it is therefore known as Cobb's Brewery Engine. The cylinder is 15.25" bore by 3- stroke and the flywheel is 10' diameter. It apparently ran at 25 rpm on steam at 25 psi. I believe this store is now much more crowded.