Needs Pictures: 0
Results 1 to 15 of 21
-
25th Nov 2016, 12:13 AM #1
Interesting visit to a farm today....
As I drive around for my new job inspecting LPG tanks, I get to see some interesting places. Today I had to check a tank at a "farm" near Hamilton, Vic. The distance from the gate to the house was a little over 5kms in a straight line. Thousands of sheep and dozens of horses and acres of crops on both sides of the driveway. All well maintained and smelling like lots of money
Anyway, the "house" was a sprawling affair of bluestone buildings, with farm-type outbuildings all over the place - all connected with nice smooth driveways - you get the picture.
He owner showed me the tank, I inspected it and made smalltalk about the amazing property. He told me it was built in 1839 and asked if I wanted to have a look at fa few things. Obviously I did.
We walked down the backyard and he showed me the biggest "backyard" dam and spillway I have ever seen. He said he thought I might be interested in technical things and showed me the POWERSTATION built in 1900 in one end of the dam! It was apparently decommissioned in the early 1970's. It has a turbine at the bottom of a vertical shaft DC generator, an oil engine (I think - he thought it was a steam engine) and a rotary converter that was installed in the30s apparently. Maybe to go from DC to AC, to run the then available mains network appliances.
Here are a few photos inside the building:
IMG_20161124_154233.jpg IMG_20161124_154240.jpg IMG_20161124_154251.jpg IMG_20161124_154258.jpg IMG_20161124_154350.jpgCheers, Joe
retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....
-
25th Nov 2016, 07:53 AM #2Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- Charlestown NSW
- Age
- 65
- Posts
- 1,673
Joe
Thanks for posting these pics. How cool is all that. If I owned it Id be looking at getting it up and running again. The switch panel. Looks like marble or something that all the switches etc are mounted on?
peter
-
25th Nov 2016, 08:45 AM #3Pink 10EE owner
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- near Rockhampton
- Posts
- 6,218
Was it some sort of government built dam and plant? It is pretty amazing.
Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.
-
25th Nov 2016, 10:13 AM #4
Interesting place, that dam and spillway is a beauty. I've never heard of an oil engine before. How does it work? Or is it a diesel?
PS. One of these maybe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-bulb_engine
-
25th Nov 2016, 11:27 AM #5Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Melbourne
- Posts
- 9,088
The warning label must have fallen off that panel
1900 it pretty early for that sort of thing.
-
25th Nov 2016, 04:03 PM #6China
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- South Australia
- Posts
- 1,658
With today's electricity prices he may want to dust it off and press the start button again
-
25th Nov 2016, 08:51 PM #7Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
- Location
- Melbourne
- Posts
- 4,779
Wow. what a piece of work. I'm interested, is the total head in metres for the hydroelectric system just the height of that dam wall in the photos?
If so, there must be a huge volume of water for generation. That dam must be bigger than what you can see in the pics.
Thanks for posting Joe, I enjoy this type of stuff!
SimonGirl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.
-
25th Nov 2016, 09:13 PM #8Diamond Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- N.W.Tasmania
- Posts
- 1,407
I have to agree with Simon on this one Joe, my thanks too for the great post. Just for clarification, You get paid to do this???
-
25th Nov 2016, 11:33 PM #9
Hydro
Warragul: the initial electric power supply for Warragul was a hydro plant up at Noojee . It was a private company apparently , about 100 years ago. There are still a few old power poles existing from it.
-
26th Nov 2016, 02:54 AM #10
-
26th Nov 2016, 02:57 AM #11Cheers, Joe
retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....
-
26th Nov 2016, 03:01 AM #12
Yes Ray. They are either called hot-bulb or oil engines. They run on kero. They were around in the late 1800 and early 1900s. Reliable sparkplugs were not invented yet until maybe 1904. So igniting fuel/air mixture was still tricky.... Diesels were invented a couple of years before the century change but not yet in common use......
Cheers, Joe
retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....
-
26th Nov 2016, 03:07 AM #13
No Richard, it was privately built with permission from the Governor of Victoria. The generating station went into operation in 1909.
The dam weir is around 4 or 5m high - so that would be the total head.
The dam when full is nearly 10km long. I had a look through the historic imagery on Google Earth and saw one showing the weir over flowing. It would take a lot of time to run it down with the little turbine, I would think. But then the oil engine would take over I imagine.....
The property was orignially owned by the Chirnside brothers Andrew and Thomas (I did a little reading on early history today).Cheers, Joe
retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....
-
26th Nov 2016, 10:34 AM #14Pink 10EE owner
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- near Rockhampton
- Posts
- 6,218
I was thinking it would cost a lot to build the plant but upon reading the history of the family they did manage to do well in life. I also found it on google earth and it looks really impressive with the curved bank and all. I must say though the property could do with some more trees growing on it.
Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.
-
26th Nov 2016, 11:13 AM #15Most Valued Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- Australia east coast
- Age
- 71
- Posts
- 2,713
Similar Threads
-
Old farm machinery video - russian
By bollie7 in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 9Last Post: 17th Oct 2015, 02:42 PM -
A nice day for a visit
By GuzziJohn in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 6Last Post: 7th Jun 2015, 11:01 PM -
Repairing a rotted out farm tractor rim.
By aametalmaster in forum WELDINGReplies: 8Last Post: 5th Sep 2014, 03:40 PM -
new addition to hercus farm
By tanii51 in forum THE HERCUS AREAReplies: 3Last Post: 18th Oct 2010, 11:57 PM -
Last Visit
By Pat in forum FORUMS INFO, HELP, DISCUSSION & FEEDBACKReplies: 8Last Post: 12th Jul 2005, 12:02 PM