This vintage transport film, produced by British Transport Films in 1962, details the challenges of moving a new power station transformer by rail to Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales.
Marvellous film showing the expertise of good working men and engineers whose labours built the infrastructure of the UK. In those days there was a sense of national pride which is sadly lacking today.
My Father was part of the workforce that built this transformer in Walthamstow E17 remember it going past my House, Big Pickford Lorry's with Police Escort. I Was seven years old
1962: Bridge in the way? Design the thing to fit under it. Today: Bridge in the way? Factor the cost of demolishing/rebuilding the bridge into the cost of the thing.
Today: don’t factor in the cost of demolishing a bridge in the way. That’s an overrun to be passed on to the customer (taxpayer). Who needs planning when you got contingencies built into your contract?
Fantastic to see this. Before the link line between the Conwy Valley line and the line to Trawsfynydd(on the old route to Bala) was opened of course,hence the last part of the journey being road. Biggest shock of all to me,was the sun was out in Blaenau Ffestiniog!!!😂
@@philbarber2 You don't understand then. The original Conwy Valley ended at the old LNWR station in Blaenau. The GWR line from Bala had its station where the present day NR/Ffestiniog one is. Hence the section between there and Trawsfynydd is on the old Blaenau-Bala line!
I agree, a splendid video. I see your point about the line to Trawsfynydd (though I thought that was still in place in 19622 but maybe already truncated for the power station), the Tan-y-Grisiau hydro is the other side of the town and one valley over. The last bit was always going to be by road. The only railway along the lower lake route was the narrow gauge. I remember visiting that power station in the 70s (74?) on an organised visit with my father and one of his professional societies (he was a power engineer). We also went to the tunnel site of the LLanberis hydro pump storage which was not much more than a hole in the mountain at the time! It's amazing that Blaenau Pump Storage is still in use and the contemporary nuclear station has already been out of use for 30 years.
You're right that this was before the through link to Trawsfynydd was opened, but that has no relevance as the transformer was on its way to Tanygrisiau. This was the nearest it could travel by main line rail, and still is.
Plus no HiViz jackets, no hard hats, no walkie-talkies, members of the public in close proximity - just pure common sense. Things only got dangerous when the ‘elf’n’saftee w@nkers got involved.
Wot! No tea? Doesn't sound British I was thinking while watching: everyone in the way of movement; no harnesses, straps, or safety rails for those on moving vehicles. No goggles! What if the seals suddenly ruptured on one of those jacks and squirted the attentive foreman right in the eye with hot, pressurized, carcinogenic hydraulic oil? He'd have run over the cwm crying like a baby! Oh, wait-not in those days. He'd have wiped it off with his sleeve without a flinch.
Meanwhile, not far away, the narrow-gauge Ffestiniog Railway was about halfway through having its full length reopened for heritage steam services, and its volunteers were wondering just how they were going to bypass the power station reservoir, that permanently prevented them using the original route into Blaenau Ffestiniog; at that time they had reopened from Porthmadog as far as Tan-y-Bwlch, and a few years later reached Dduallt. Twenty years after this film was made, Ffestiniog trains once again reached the Blaenau thanks to a special spiral arrangement. One may wonder though how a transformer could easily have been transported on the narrow gauge, despite obvious clearance issues. Samuel F.
Even if the narrow gauge line was still there, they couldn’t of moved it that way. The transformer is far too large for the Ffestiniog Railway’s loading gauge, plus I doubt their engines have the power to pull it
They had to do a screw over several times. Yes, I have been screwed over a good many times in my life. Otherwise, fascinating. All the machines, electric, rail and road, made in Britain. The Pickfords tractor units were a Scammell and an AEC. And how delightful the Welsh landscape is here, even the industrial areas. Time for a revisit after covid.
A lot of sheer muscle involved and no one wearing gloves. Men were tough then and used what they had jacks, winches, blocks of wood. Great a big Meccano set just as I had when young. This power station is still used as designed. Brilliant.
Transformer built by Ferranti’s of Edinburgh. Sold off their Heavy Electrical Division to Napier’s in the late 20thC., to concentrate on avionics. Now a subsidiary of BAE.
@@daveoftheclanburgess I did see (in my distant youth) Pickfords lorries with a logo on the cab very similar to that of British Railways (the one after the cycling lion) so I guess that it must have been a generic logo.
Read of Pickford's having a container furniture house moving system using railways and local horse cart pickup and set down in 1848. In the book Stokers and Pokers. Very early rail container transport 170 plus years ago.
In Victoria in Australia the State Electricity Commission (now privatised) moved a few big transformers by road. Sometimes using two trucks side by side. The terrain was mostly flat. I imagine the Wales location had many winding roads.
4:27 oh that poor 4F. Imagine if that load did come lose and rolled back into that poor thing. It could have derailed the poor engine, or at least cracked the frames
No its still there. Though the station at Blaenau Ffestiniog is now closed, replaced about 200m further along the connecting line to the old GWR line which is closed and lifted beyond Trawsfynydd Power Station, and currently disused from beyond the present Blaenau Ffestiniog station shared with the Ffestiniog Railway.
if any of the (single) cables would have failed, there would have been lots of casualties, injured or killed by the cables, especially with the many bystanders. those there the days of terrible safety, but then safety is red tape anyway that must be removed at all cost.
@@NickBurman I’ve dealt with steel carrying Bogie Bolsters with 60 foot long steel brake pipes to supply vacuum to the next wagon. Stoke Gifford, and St Phillips Marsh Bristol.
5:07. Typical. One guy bustin his ass, four guys supervising. Would it not have been easier to disassemble the transformer for shipping, and assemble it on-site?
Not so much. The transformer shell is a single welded structure (to better prevent leaks of oil), so no way to make it smaller. It could be made lighter, by shipping the three cores separate from the shell, but then you would have to install them at the site, which would need an overhead gantry.
Lots of mention of health & Safety, etc, but look how many people were involved. Mammoet and the like do this with a team less than a quarter of the size these days, but in exactly the same manner. The efficiencies of the later 60s, 70s and 80s and onward were not kind to these skilled people.
