Interesting! (If You Are Into Engineering)

[cb750]

Just watched this on You Tube, thought the engineers out there may be interested!

 

The video is titled:- No 6207 A Study in Steel 1935

 

Sorry can't find out how to post a link to it

 

Rob

[Dave R]

[brumster]

I love stuff like that. Loved the image of the guys drilling out at the start, big windings of steel coming off the bit and not a facemask in sight

[Guest Ian & Carole]

What skills and so labour intensive.

 

Made me laugh at the 7 blokes sat on a beam as counter balance whilst putting the plate into the furnace.

 

Ear defenders, eye defenders, eye protection, gloves Nahhh :hi:

[richardm6994]

That video is from the nation railway museum, and I remember my dad and me watching it when I was a kid.

 

That kind of stuff is history to be proud of.

[fry61]

Just a pity it's History Richard, we couldn't make much of Tornado when she was built a few years ago

[Guest chris brown]

Great piece of film history but yes Bob all those skills have all but gone in this country

[richardm6994]

That thought entered my head bob.......tornado took 14 years.....and a stupid amount of money....the result....a loco that doesn't work very well because the white-collar designers couldn't read imperial drawings, nor did they think about the increased machining tolerences needed on a HOT steam engine...and they wouldn't listen to the proper hands-on engineers who'd been restoring steam engines all their lives simply because they hadn't got engineering degrees and so knew nothing!!!!

 

 

rant over....great film and some of these skills can still be seen in the flesh in Northampton

[Guest davidimurray]

I love these sort of videos, but must admit it winds me up when people say "ahh look at we could do in the good old days" because we still do! Everything we did then we can and still do - heavy engineering does still exist in this country although the media would have every child believe that it doesn't - combined with persuading everyone that they should be highly educated IT geeks or bankers (nothing against anyone who is by the way)

 

I work as a projects engineer for Tata Steel, basically anything special, out of the ordinary I do!

 

A year ago we rebuilt a blast furnace, 3000t of steel made in Britain, fabricated in Britain, assembled in Britain by British workers. It's hard to explain the scale unless you see it but as some highlights - 90mm thick steel plate rolled into curved plates and then 6 of those put together to make a ring 11m in diameter (36feet) and accurate to +-6mm. 13 rings then built up to make a furnace vessel 42m high. 1m diameter annular castings made and machine in the UK and then welded into the plates. In total - 500t just for the vessel. Another 2500t of structural steel. All prebuilt as modules upto 500t on site and then driven across the works on giant SPMT multiwheeled vehicles (like you see on those mighty moves programmes) and then assembled with an 1800t crawler crane.

 

We may not do as much heavy engineering as we did, but we still do - look at Forgemasters in Sheffield - world leaders in forging - yet the government withdrew their loan (note no handouts!) for a new forging press as money saving. If anything kills engineering in this country it will be the unwillingness of government to accept that they need manufacturing and to give us a level playing field with everyone else.

[fry61]

Brilliant reply David, didn't realise we could still cook & pour metal in those sort of weights.

[richardm6994]

Dave, I see your point and that does sound impressive What a great job!!

 

I suppose it's not that we can't do that kind of thing anymore, it's just that we don't do as much as we use to and therefore the skilled people are fading away....thus these people who are left with the skills become sought after and expensive.....and so the end product becomes expensive and unfeasible.......and so a cheaper way is found.......and so the cycle continues.

[Guest davidimurray]

Florin - we certainly do - we have 2 blast furnaces making 250t each per HOUR - constantly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week non-stop. In the UK then you've also got 4 small blast furnaces at Scunthrope and the big one at Redcar

 

For anyoen interested you can see some photos on the company project twitter feed - https://twitter.com/BF4Rebuild

 

Steamer I know what you mean - there are certain specialist skills dying out but I think that all across most fields. The problem often tends to be not the amount of work but simply that new techniques replace them. I notice your another steam engine fan - that how I got into engineering. Started on the Welsh Highland Railway as a volunteer and worked on and off for 10 years for them and the Ffestiniog doing all sorts of job - was even their draughtsman for 3 or 4 years (I designed the replica Darjeeling carraiges and (my crowning glory) Sandy River Parlor Car Replica for Adrian Shooters provate railway).

 

Personally my gripe is the way that engineering is portrayed in this country, you either have to be a knuckle dragging neanderthal working on the tools for a pittance or a highly educated, well paid engineer working in a laboratory on cutting edge research - some you would be led to believe The guys on the tools are highly skilled and very very well paid and they deserve that recognition. There is nothing wrong with getting down and dirty - I am a Dr of engineering and spend lots of time planning, researching, checking, engineering directing things etc, but I can still often be found spanner in hand helpign to get the job done.

 

Education is going the complete opposite - when I was in uni, they had 4 hours a week, for 1 term, in one year where you actually got your hands dirty on a machine. In the latter days they were talking about stopping that altogether and just showing them videos of things being made. In the days of doing my doctorate I used to help out marking work and half these student couldnt design anything to save their lives as they had never made anything - you could instantly spot which ones coudl service their car or fabricate something! If I had my way every engineering student would have to do a compulsory 1 year apprentiship!

[fry61]

Well said David, its no good being able to draw the nut & bolt if you don't know how it goes together & its limitations. Have a daughter in engineering, she refused a "promotion" to be able to still work on site; not at your heavy end but engineering non-the-less.

[brumster]

Completely agree on the education side of things. I've seen juniors come into IT with woeful skills and I wonder what on earth has happened to the education system when they can't even understand hexadecimal or binary. A lot of common responses are "you just don't need to any more" but, of course, I spent several days debugging an interface once because some 'eejit' couldn't comprehend the difference between a carriage return and a linefeed. So I think with any craft, understanding the basic principles is a pillar to greater things. I can feel a rant coming on - best get back to the job in hand ....

[speedtripledan]

maybe not heavy engineering but look at the f1 cars most are built and designed in Britain, rollsroyce in derby build the best jet engines in the world, there is plenty going on just not enough.