Steam Engineers a Sad Day

[vic mcclymont]

At the moment there are three remaining coal fired power stations in the UK.
During the course of the winter at varying times they have used as baseload power suppliers.
The UK Government approached the owners of on station Yorkshire, asking them to postpone closer for another year.
The response was No., as all of the Engineers are past their retirement date and most want to retire. The company stated that their is no available young people to take over the running of the plant.
In days gone buy the country was awash with steam Engineers, now it appears that they are rare than you know what.
Vic

[James Curry]

I would have thought that in Oil fired power stations & Gas fired power stations and Nuclear powered power stations there would be Steam Engineers. These power stations I would have thought still used Boilers and the only thing that has changed is the fuel medium to fire the boilers and the Steam is then used to drive the Generation plant/Turbines?

[vic mcclymont]

There are no oil fired power stations in th UK.
Probably only enough engineers to man existing stations.
The words I Qouted, were from an official the power station that was closing.
Vic

[James Curry]

Also an aging work force and a lack of training and apprenticeships this has been a problem which a blind man on a galloping horse should have seen.
Well what do we expect having flogged off the utilities to foreign owners and investors. Short sighted short term and then demand the government train up the next generation work force, also insist on government investment to replace aging power stations.

[j.sabourn]

#1 The only steamship I ever sailed on the fuel source was Bunker C. I know coal was the original source for steamships, did bunker C a very heavy oil ever replace coal as a personal choice , either monetary or just more adaptable ? JS

[Tony Taylor]

I would have thought that in Oil fired power stations & Gas fired power stations and Nuclear powered power stations there would be Steam Engineers. These power stations I would have thought still used Boilers and the only thing that has changed is the fuel medium to fire the boilers and the Steam is then used to drive the Generation plant/Turbines?

I would agree with that James.

[Bill Morrison]

#1 The only steamship I ever sailed on the fuel source was Bunker C. I know coal was the original source for steamships, did bunker C a very heavy oil ever replace coal as a personal choice , either monetary or just more adaptable ? JS

Hi John. Both cost and progress. From F. C. Bowen's SHIPS.
Bill.

[James Curry]

Table 1: Types of Marine HFO and Composition[3]
Category of Marine HFO Marine HFO Composition
Bunker C/Fuel oil No.6 residual oil
Intermediate Fuel Oil (IFO) 380 distillate combined with 98% residual oil
Intermediate Fuel Oil (IFO) 180 distillate combined with 88% residual oil
Low Sulfur Marine Fuel Oils (HFO derivative) distillate/residual oil blend (higher ratio of distillate)

If memory serves Bunker "C" was used by Steam ships, IFO 380 was if heated to about 200 degs C was used on Slow speed motor ships and was eventually replaced by IFO 180 as this fuel had a reduced sulphur emissions, then Low Sulphur fuels became the normal bunkered fuel. Now a lot of modern tonnage use duel fuels LNG and low sulphur marine diesels.

[j.sabourn]

The ship I am referring to was the ex Irish Elm built I think in about 1953 and sold soon after to foreign owners , I was on her in 1969 , not too long after me leaving in 1970 she was scrapped for razor blades a fitting end to the state of the vessel at the time. She was I am sure the main cause of the death of the C/E who died in a Singapore hospital , before his death I spent many hours down the E.R.assisting him in the back end of boilers trying to get out the super heating elements around the boiler tubes which were the source of water leaks and our water consumption was at least 50 tons a day , so after 3 days at sea one was looking for a port of Refuge to obtain fresh water. And this was just one of the many problems, I lasted 9.5 months before walking off in Japan , breaking the 12 month contract and lost any money I hoped to make. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Scraped for razor blades.
Now I know why I use an electric shaver.