Guys, i have been trying to label and add notes to my many, many pics of Dinorwic Quarry (defos not an easy task).
The two large, extended, compressor houses on Australia and Ponc Robin Rabar each contain two compressors. I presume the second one on Australia was added in the early 1920s to supply the new sawing shed. Was the old one then abandoned or did they use both in tandem to supply air reservoirs or both separately, one for the saw tables and one for the rock drills.
Similarly the building on Ponc Robin Raber was extended in 1938 to accommodate the new compressor. Any ideas why this was needed and what it supplied air to ?
And finally were the two large Ingersol Rand machines electrically driven or did electricity only arrive at the quarry in the 1920s ?
Any help would be grately appreciated.

As far as electricity is concerned, the North Wales Electric Power & Traction Company's Cwm Dyli power hydro-electric station commenced generation 13th August 1906. Details of its distribution network, which included a spur to the Dinorwig quarries, was published in The Electrician in the same year.

I would imagine that Dinowig would have installed at least some electric plant in anticipation of their connection to the supply, so by perhaps 1910 I think there would have been fairly widespread use of electricity in the quarry.

Dave

Thanks for that Dave, i had forgotten about Cwm Dyli power house. !!

….the North Wales Electric Power & Traction Company's Cwm Dyli power hydro-electric station commenced generation 13th August 1906.

Dave

I replaced the runners and shafts there a few years ago, an incredibly difficult and painstaking job; just a few microns of tolerance in the alignment of all the moving parts to prevent everything shaking its self to bits....and we are back there again this year renewing the rock anchors and holding-down bolts on the concrete pylons on the inlet pipeline.
The quality of Victorian engineering never fails to blow my mind; the whole installation is a work of art :thumbup:

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As a general comment the use of compressed air increased significantly over time. It was initially used for rock drills after the various electric and hydraulic drills had been shown to be inferior but was later expanded to include powered winches on the tripod cranes.

If you PM me your email address I will send you a couple of articles from the Electrical Review from 1906 which gives full details of Cwm Dyli and some information on the Dinorwic substation.

My understanding is that all the extant Dinorwic machines were all powered by electricity. The vertical machine in the lower compressor house was manufactured by Belliss & Morcom.

Thanks for that Jon - PM sent !!

To highlight the importance of Cwm Dyli power station, it was also used to power one of Marconi’s transatlantic transmitters on Cefn Du by Waenfawr from 1913. Pulling around 370kW off the network, it was one of the first to draw comms business away from the cable systems. Which incidentally was keyed from Tywyn, Merioneth, then after, sent via Cefn Du for a few years.

https://www.qrz.com/db/GB0MUU 

Not mining, but just as interesting! ::)

To add to the information about Cwm Dyli power station and the Marconi radio station ...

The first diagram shows the Cwm Dyli as planned (from The Electrician 1906. As can be seen there were planned connections to the Dinorwig, Ffestiniog, Glyn Rhonwy and Nantlle quarries. The route to Glyn Rhonwy appears to have continued alongside the lake from Llanberis and the route to Dyfryn Nantlle appears to go via Betws Garmon and Rhos Tryfan or Bryngwyn.

🔗120413[linkphoto]120413[/linkphoto][/link]

The second diagram shows the later development of the network with connections to the radio station and Penrhyn quarry, plus interconnectors to Dolgarog and Maentwrog power stations and a supply to Porthmadog.

The link to Glyn Rhonwy now goes from the south west of Llanberis, and the route to Nantlle goes via Drws y Coed, where a connection is shown. (I wonder if this was in anticipation of electric copper refining at the mines there.)

🔗120414[linkphoto]120414[/linkphoto][/link]

The railway in both diagrams is the Porthmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway, which was intended to use electric locos, hence the inclusion of 'Traction' in the NWEP&T Co. company name. (But that's another story. 🙂 )

Dave

very interesting. Thanks Dave.

I think it's still there, but there used to be quite a hideous looking substation South West of Llanberis towards Bwlch Maesgwm (above Snowdon Ranger YH on the Cwellyn side). It also goes by the name Telegraph pass and has remnants of old poles dotted about. Pretty substantial one's at that.

Big rectangular concrete monolith? Still there and in use as a mobile phone relay I think? Wandered in a few years ago, and wandered back out pretty much immediately with a headache.

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The location of the substation and the dogleg on the lines diverging to Glyn Rhonwy and Cefn Du on Dave's second diagram seem to marry up nicely.

Who would think power distribution networks could be so interesting. I certainly didn't think so 41 years ago having to work out the capacitance around a pylon's glass insulator for an exam. :lol::lol:

... there used to be quite a hideous looking substation South West of Llanberis towards Bwlch Maesgwm

I saw that in August 1985, but I've not been that way since.

It also goes by the name Telegraph pass and has remnants of old poles dotted about. Pretty substantial one's at that.

Picture below (poor quality I'm afraid, it's a scan of a photocopy of the 1906 article) is the NWEP&T Co power line with three 3-phase circuits south west of Llanberis. The Dinorwig quarries can be seen in the background.

🔗120415[linkphoto]120415[/linkphoto][/link]

Can anyone identify the exact location?

Dave

Ace, thanks Dave, never seen a photo of it before but have walked past the remains of sections of the line dozens and dozens of time.

From the angle of the view to the quarry I'd have said around here? Perhaps?

https://zoom.earth/#view=53.111255,-4.113543,17z/layers=crosshairs 

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Pretty much agree. With the camera placed around the elbow of the highlighted area.

[photo]120416[/photo]

Is there sufficient interest in this topic that I should upload the 1906 article from The Electrician to the Mining & Mine Exploration Documents section of the site? It's not exactly mining history although there is [pardon the pun] a connection to the north Wales slate quarrying industry.

At present, it's a set of scans of the article pages, but I could assemble them into a PDF document for upload.

A couple of other references that may be of interest:

Oulton, T., 2014, 'Electricity in the North Wales Slate Industry' in Proceedings of the 2014 NAMHO Conference, Bangor, Welsh Mines and Mining No. 4 pp. 147-158 published by Welsh Mines Society 2015

Woodward, G., 1998, 'Hydro-Electricity in North Wales 1880-1948' in Transactions of the Newcomen Society 69B (1997), pp. 205–236 (The paper has sections on quarry electrification and the Marconi wireless station at Waen Fawr.)

Dave

Yes please Dave, I'd certainly like a read of the article.

It's all part of the jigsaw.

I guess Simon will want to throw buns my way for asking this... Is it possible to split the Cwm Dyli parts of the thread onto a new heading?:surrender:

Again... yes please Dave. It sounds a fascinating document. I never realised there were plans afoot to electrify the railway. Presumably on the o'head trolley (500v DC ?) system.

Thanks in anticipation.

Mike.

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I never realised there were plans afoot to electrify the railway. Presumably on the o'head trolley (500v DC ?) system.

No, 3 phase 630 V 50 Hz AC actually - two trolley wires and the running rails as the third phase.

It's an interesting story. As someone (at least) once said "there is a book", Ghosts of Aberglaslyn: The Porthmadog, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway John Manners with Michael Bishop, Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group, 2016

Dave

It seems the document I’ve just uploaded is copyright IET. I thought as it was from 1906 that it was out of copyright. However, it seems that IET claim copyright on the photocopy they supplied.

Consequently, I'm afraid I will have to delete the document. :(

My apologies.

Dave

You have a PM.
Mike.

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