Doxford Marine Diesel Memories (1 Viewer)

[Boringfrog]

Mayfield B&B - just checked. Roker hotel now the Grand hotel

Seaburn Hotel is the Grand, I live 5 mins away.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Seaburn Hotel is the Grand, I live 5 mins away.

Here you go......

 

[Boringfrog]

Here you go......

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Lol...lived here all my life, Seaburn is North of Roker.

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[DuxDeluxe]

Lol...lived here all my life, Seaburn is North of Roker.
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My memory must have faded due to too much Vaux....... you are correct of course and thanks for the correction

 

[Boringfrog]

My memory must have faded due to too much Vaux....... you are correct of course and thanks for the correction

Mayfield Hotel still going strong, or was before the CV hit. ?

 

[Boringfrog]

A superb image of shipbuilding on the River Wear.
Clicky

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[DuxDeluxe]

Mayfield Hotel still going strong, or was before the CV hit. ?

Looks like they bought the other half of the building. It was 1974/5 when I was there

 

[Steve and Denise]

I used to walk home to East Boldon, probably not quite as far.

I used to buy bits for my bantam from Boldon Jacky Barkers Motor bike shop he had a nice square four in his shed behind the pub before he moved to his new place.?

 

[Boringfrog]

I used to buy bits for my bantam from Boldon Jacky Barkers Motor bike shop he had a nice square four in his shed behind the pub before he moved to his new place.?

Yeah, always good for an MOT, especially if it was raining. I remember the square four too. ?

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[Steve and Denise]

Yeah, always good for an MOT, especially if it was raining. I remember the square four too. ?

It was gold from memory, I would be about 12 then

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I had a Suzuki GT750 at the time. Good in a straight line. Terrible brakes as I recall.

 

[Steve and Denise]

Can you remember the motorcycle center in Maxwell st next to the undertakers, just behind the night club Lacarno or La Strarda. ?

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[Boringfrog]

Can you remember the motorcycle center in Maxwell st next to the undertakers, just behind the night club Lacarno or La Strarda. ?

In South Shields?

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Dim memory but yes I think I remember looking at a bike somewhere down that way

 

[Steve and Denise]

In South Shields?

Yes opposite the town hall I may have the name of the club wrong as I am a few years younger than you two I think, and I also went to SS Marine and tec then Charles Trevellion in Newcastle
It may have been Mayfair ?

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[Steve and Denise]

Just had a rethink La Strada was on Fawcet st Sunderland I was more a Wetherals kid off Green terrace.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I thought there was a La Strada in Shields. Slightly older clientele compared with Ruperts and the Cat, I seem to remember. Long time ago though

 

[Steve and Denise]

I thought there was a La Strada in Shields. Slightly older clientele compared with Ruperts and the Cat, I seem to remember. Long time ago though

You could be right dux but now 63 and a lot of it is distant memories but I will keep my eye out for you and Boring frog as we could have a great trip back in time (with laughs) and I know you have a good whiskey stock. ?

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[DuxDeluxe]

You could be right dux but now 63 and a lot of it is distant memories but I will keep my eye out for you and Boring frog as we could have a great trip back in time (with laughs) and I know you have a good whiskey stock. ?

You are welcome. Having a good whisky stock is one thing..... parting with it is another of course as cruiser will testify
would be good to have an ex mariner’s meet, but remember that my cat is blacker than yours....

 

[34127]

Lol...lived here all my life, Seaburn is North of Roker.
View attachment 390718

That was always a great place to watch the air show from.

I used to buy bits for my bantam from Boldon Jacky Barkers Motor bike shop he had a nice square four in his shed behind the pub before he moved to his new place.?

I remember Jackie Barkers, he was well known in the area and popular with bikers.

 

[34127]

I thought there was a La Strada in Shields. Slightly older clientele compared with Ruperts and the Cat, I seem to remember. Long time ago though

Yes, there was a La Strada in South Shields

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[Manic]

I served my apprenticeship at WH Allen’s of Bedford, the largest employer in town. They made large Diesel sets and Turbines. I was on the machine maintenance team.
Found an interesting video on youtube, the machine machining the cylinder heads at 5.19 minute, I helped install.

 

[andy63]

Our auxilary generators on the container ships I sailed on were Allen diesels.. At sea we had a turbo alternator but if that failed or when in port we used two of the three auxiliary sets of the diesels.. I've lapped a few valves on those heads..? ..one of the perks for been a cadet ?
Andy..

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Our auxilary generators on the container ships I sailed on were Allen diesels.. At sea we had a turbo alternator but if that failed or when in port we used two of the three auxiliary sets of the diesels.. I've lapped a few valves on those heads..? ..one of the perks for been a cadet ?
Andy..

That, and greasing the soot blowers on a steamships boilers. I had that job on the Talamba (P&O’s only other twin funnel ship apart from Canberra) when doing my engine room time. Off west Africa at the time as well.

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[Tincataylor]

PeterH, if we ever meet in a pub then we are going to bore people senseless with our recollections of times gone by. Your bookcase reminds me of the hours I spent studying for my “tickets” in between bouts of insane drinking. A big thank you for those who have posted their memories of Sunderland, I never imagined when I posted this thread that it would touch so many people.

Meanwhile back at the engine if you look carefully at the beginning and end of the video in the bottom left corner you will briefly see another engineer. The level where this man is standing is where the pistons meet and where the aforementioned fuel valves and camshafts are. To try and give you an idea of scale the fuel valve level is only half way down to the “bottom plates” where the engine controls and the bulk of the ancillary equipment live. If you study the cross section drawing supplied by PeterH then this can be clearly seen. The big marine diesels were collectively known as Cathedral Engines for good reason because you really felt like you were standing in a cathedral, such was the scale of these mighty engines, and in my opinion none of the others came close to having the character of the mighty Doxford.

I'd like to try and give you a feeling of what it was like to drive one of these engines. The controls were on the bottom plates and looked more like they belonged in a signal box of the steam train era . On the left was a long lever similar to the type used to change the points of a railway, and this moved the camshaft forwards and back depending if you wanted to go ahead or astern. Next to it was a shorter lever which injected the compressed air into the cylinders for starting. Next to that was a lever on a ratchet, similar to a car handbrake, which progressively increased the amount of fuel injected and therefore increased the speed. Above this was a small hand wheel that increased the fuel pressure in the common fuel rail; as you increased the volume of fuel injected the pressure dropped in the common fuel rail and this had to be compensated for by increasing the pumped volume (simple 'innit?). Above all of these were the exhaust gas temperature gauges, one for each cylinder which made sure you did not exceed maximum combustion temperature in any one cylinder.

OK, that's the boring bit over (honest). Starting the engine from stationary when leaving port was the time when if it could go wrong it would, and there was always a slightly anxious atmosphere in the engine room. Very often the Chief Engineer (aka God) would be in attendance looking down from his lofty perch on the top plates. The officer of the watch had the job of driving and all eyes would be fixed on him at the controls as everybody waited for the first command (known as a “movement”) to come down from the bridge via the engine room telegraph. I could never resist pacing up and down like a cat during this period if it was my watch. The silence would be shattered by the bell of the telegraph asking for either dead slow ahead or astern. This movement would be answered on the engine telegraph which stopped the bell: time to get cracking. As the air lever was pushed forward there was a loud hissing noise as hundreds of cubic feet of compressed air at 600 psi was blasted into the cylinders thus setting them in motion. Less than a second later the fuel lever was advanced to the dead slow position while simultaneously releasing the air lever. If all was well then the engine would be going at about 32rpm and the fuel pressure would be adjusted at the same time as scanning the exhaust temperatures for potential problems with the fuel valves. The next movement would normally be stop engines which was achieved simply by moving the fuel lever back to zero. The next movement was normally dead slow astern which was a repeat with the addition of moving the camshaft to astern prior to putting the air on.

To have all that power under your control was a fantastic feeling for a 20 year old wet behind the ears Deb'n farm boy, I hope this has given you a flavour of what is one of my fondest memories,

Mr Tinca

 

[Bluemanc100]

Never heard of these engines so I googled them... The attached video will give you an idea of the scale of these things

 

[34127]

Thanks for that, great to watch

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[2x2camper]

Never heard of these engines so I googled them... The attached video will give you an idea of the scale of these things

Thank for that. One of the people in the video could act be may Dad. Sent him a link to see if he recognises himself or anyone else

 

[DuxDeluxe]

The modern diesels such as MAN etc are a real sight to see. Photographs do not give even half an idea of their sheer size. Can’t find mine I took on the Glasgow Express but here is one from Marine insight

edit.... note the spare piston and liner in the foreground

 

[DiggerJon]

Fabulous video. I had no idea of the scale of these engines. H & S would have a field day in there nowadays with no eye protection. flat caps for a helmet etc. etc. That's when men were men!!

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