Goldstone, Examinations and Repairs Book (found today)
At the newly installed
Boiler Number 4
June 4TH 1934
Slow fires put in
June 7th 1934
Raising steam
June 8th 1934
Inspected by Mr. Thomas at 80Ibs
April 6th 1937
Flues swept
November 16th 2009
Day of the flue cleaning of Boiler Number 4, readying it for inspection and firing up after 4 years at a standstill.
The health and safety standard outfits didn’t deter the soot getting in as they scrambled deep inside the boiler, armed with brushes. The soot is so fine and 5 barrows full came out from those dormant tunnels, nothing like the 88 barrows that came out when the boiler was fully working.
Back in the studio there’s a pile of photos to edit ,which is thrilling me to the core, and Rotring pens to clean…not quite so thrilling (the nostalgia wearing thin as the two I want to use are blocked.)
The latest old paperwork we found may help with my narrative strand…But it’s looking doubtful. Nevertheless the writing itself is inspiring.
My school run ‘bus job’ has been jotting notes for the funding application and on the opposite page thinking about other venues for the work, after the Engineerium…and Christmas lists.(it’s a long trip)
Engineers Report Book August 1918
Gentlemen, I beg to report that In July last I received a letter from the Vulcan Boiler General Insurance Company Ltd dated 10th of that month pointing out that the boilers at the Goldstone pumping station were now 56 years old and that even when new had only a moderate factor of safety, and asking that the pressure in future should be reduced from 60 to 40 lbs to the square inch.
Your Obedient Servant
My Notebook November 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen
With numerous diggers paving way for the new kitchens, I wandered to the boiler room to attend to the task of envisaging myself meandering round the exhibition. Suddenly I seized on the idea of how the sound will work, a giddy rush emerging on the Number 5B as I penned it in my notebook.
Enlarging and cropping has been the week’s task in hand, and contemplating funding. With a couple of possibilities on the horizon realising this project with less compromise is an option. I know now what I need to achieve with the sound. I’m ring fencing ideas and about to launch my plans on the Engineerium for consent, before I start writing yet another plea for additional funds. Adventurous it may be, but I am endeavouring to drive my work forward.
To quote James Nasmyth (inventor of the steam hammer, 1808-1890)
‘It is one of the most delightful results of the possession of the constructive faculty, that one can build up in the mind mechanical structures and set them to work in imagination…It is the early cultivation of the imagination which gives the right flexibility to the thinking faculty….’ from the British Engineerium executive summary circa 1993.
