IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Milton Place, AUCHTERARDER, PH3 1RP

Terraced housing, originally built for the workers in the mills of Auchterarder's Milton district.

This was the last mill in Scotland to use steam power. The engine stopped in 1980. It was operable as a preserved engine for a period around 1985 but is now cold and dead.

This rather nice engine has been retained in situ although no longer workable. In situ mill engines are now becoming very rare and the old argument about not being able to save everything is rapidly becoming a case of saving anything lest there be nothing left to save.

On the A824.

A very nice small horizontal tandem compound steam engine built by an unknown maker in 1873 and installed secondhand c1918. It ran until 1980 and was then later preserved and steamed as an outpost of the Royal Scottish Museum. It is now lying dormant in a business centre but it is still possible to see it by request. Closest to the camera are the jet condenser and air pump alongside the high pressure cylinder. The low pressure cylinder is nearest the crank. In the left background with an air vessel on top is the boiler feed pump that, like the air pump, is operated off the crosshead. Love the hand rail.

A very nice small horizontal tandem compound steam engine built by an unknown maker in 1873 and installed secondhand c1918. It ran until 1980 and was then later preserved and steamed as an outpost of the Royal Scottish Museum. It is now lying dormant in a business centre but it is still possible to see it by request. The highp ressure cylinder is closest to the camera with the low pressure closer to the crank. Both have a simple slide valve and speed control was by a belt driven Pickering governor. To the left of the high pressure cylinder are the jet condenser and horizontal air pump. I was fortunate to see this run in 1985 but haven't seen it now for quite a long time.

A Penman of Glasgow Cornish boiler built in 1949 and pressed to 60 psi. The engine it supplied had stopped in 1980. The engine was later operated in preservation for a period but if I recall correctly it was supplied with steam from a vertical boiler outside the original boiler house. Sadly, the mill is now a business park and the engine is cold, dead and only viewable on request.

The A824 in the lower section of Auchterader. The road signs indicate the presence of Glenruthven Mill - which houses a museum of Auchterarder - an Auchterarder Station. The latter sign is quite amusing as the station closed as long ago as 1956 and the sign is recent - perhaps it has some significance to the locals?