Paddle Steamers...

Paddle Steamers...
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Came across above when viewing the bbc news page, been on a couple of them, can recall being on the Maid of the Loch when I was a kid, then when the Tall Ships race started from Leith a few years back the Waverley was there doing trips, we went out on her to watch the start of the race, party started on the boat and ended up in a city centre bar, great night if I recall...

The picture below is of the “Director”, not a paddle steamer but a Director Class paddle tug pictured at Rosyth in 1974, got the opportunity to see around her once, being admiralty she was immaculate and the main bit of interest to me the engine room, as clean, if not cleaner than the galley, and an odd piece of kit, four Paxman engines driving generators which powered two electric motors, one for each paddle, which were geared down to the paddles via the biggest chains I have ever see in my life...

Morse chains probably,

Don’t know who made them but they were fu#king huge...

Adam Mint wrote:Don’t know who made them but they were fu#king huge...

Morse is a kind of chain, I'm not sure if its a make, I have one as a timing chain in my Willy's jeep, First time i ever saw one when taking it to bits, Had it 44 years, £60 when i was 14, me and older brother went to rescue somebody in our Austin Champ, The Willys is a thorn in my side, how we won the war i dont know

Morse manufacture conventional roller chains as above, and invented the inverted tooth chain (Morse Chain) as below...

Blady rubber belts now

Austin Champ,,, many years ago not long after we had all past our driving tests, one of my mates (Ian) picked one of them up, needed a fair bit of work to get it roadworthy so he moved it out of town to a relatives of his who had a builders yard and big shed, he then spent a couple of years of his youth in said shed doing it up with the occasional bit of help from myself and another of my mates (Kev).
The big day arrived and it was being taken for its MOT, I was not involved but Kev was accompanying Ian, on the way from said shed to the MOT station they had to drive past a shale bing (slag heap), Ian decided to test the Champs off road capabilities, after buzzing around the bing for a bit Ian decided to check out the Champs reversing capabilities, in that the Champ had five forward gears which with a flick of a lever became five reverse gears, off they set at great speed in reverse, this is when Ian discovered caster angle. Caster angle relates to a vehicles steering, it’s when you let go of the steering wheel after turning a corner and the steering self centers,,, well in reverse the opposite happens, it goes on to full lock, and at a fast reversing speed it does this very quickly, the Champ flipped in to the air, Kev was ejected from the passenger seat at great speed and witnessed the event from an aerial position prior to landing, splat, but mainly still in one piece,,, Ian on the other hand was not so fortunate, the Champ landed on his leg...
Result, one written off Champ, a plastered leg and a lot of piss taking in the pub...
PS; looking on the bright side, he saved on the MOT fee...

Austin Champ


Shale Bing

Lovely pit bing that AM...

Ha ha Well you have to see how fast you can go backwards, A great road vehicle, but far too over engineered and heavy for off road, but i could leave mine for months and it would start, The Willy's nah, 6 volt crap,
On the rare occasions it did start you wouldnt want to go far, too light and bumpy, The Champ was like a limo, but at 8mpg you couldnt afford it, Like i said, "How we won the war i dont know"

You give me the Willys Reg, no, seriously. I will be your friend for life. The rest of you plebs wont have a clue what its worth.

Perfectspecimen wrote:You give me the Willys Reg, no, seriously. I will be your friend for life. The rest of you plebs wont have a clue what its worth.

It will never be cashed in, 2 brothers and money dont mix , we have some 4 digit number plates too,
they will just stay in a drawer aswell, If ever you see a lovely old house going to ruin chances are its a family that wont or cant agree what to do with the blady thing, Never mind,

Do you know I cant remember writing that last night Reg. So I either have old timers disease or a serious alcohol problem...

The latter i think, your quite sharp when sober

I never post wif a dwink iin me.,.