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104. Boiler House, 11/11/21.
The flue under construction, awaiting its top plates. The branches on either side just before the chimney will house the economisers. Only 4 boilers in place so far, this emphasises how difficult it will be to install the rest, as they will have to be brought in along the line of the boiler beds, the firing space appears to be too narrow to allow a boiler to be slewed through 90 degrees into the bed from there.
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103. Flood Tide 14’2″ OD, 1/11/21.
Flooding reaching almost to the SECR railway embankment, the top of the level crossing gates on New Hythe Lane might just be discerned. There was no halt at New Hythe at this time.
Interesting how the electricity supply is brought down to the shed and to a switch box on the post, carried on porcelain insulators naile or screwed to the post
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102. Flood Tide 14’2″ OD, 1/11/21.
Demonstrating how vulnerable the site was to flooding, typical ground level before construction was around 12′ OD, machine house floors were made at 16′ OD, however the basements were still vulnerable.
There was flooding including the basements later (1953 East Coast Floods?), which initiated building the low flood wall (~3′ tall) which existed in the 70s. Subsequently with increasing risk, a 2m high flood wall was built along the whole river frontage of the New Hythe site.
I can remember occasions in the late 70s or early 80s when we monitored the rise of the tide in no 1 and 2 clarifier launders in East Mill, ready to shut the process water pumps and supply to Kimberley Clark if the water topped the clarifier wall. (KC were supposed to immediately wash up if machines shut for sanitary reasons, if their water was left on they would potentially flood the Perimeter Road as this was quite low lying in relation to the West Mill drain and sump in East Mill).
The name of the inn has changed to Ferry Inn, which is what we always knew it as – or just The Ferry – it was the Personnel Dept office in my time.
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101. Salle, 27/10/21.
Interestingly the steelwork is not erected and infilled with blockwork as for other parts of the building,but supported on the external walls and internal stanchions, for which concrete bases are already in place, see steelwork drawing Redpath Brown Salle Steelwork drwg 1. (uploaded separately).
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99. General view 27/10/21.
View of the west end of the beater and power houses, the openings to bring in machinery, and the temporary standard gauge siding entering the building are visible, as is the siding into the north end of the machine house. Ferry House Inn just in shot, top left.
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98. Conveyor and Beaterhouse 27/10/21.
Taken from the top of the water tower then under construction, this photo shows the openings left in the end walls of the turbine house and beaterfloor basement (later also part of the turbine house as explained above). A temporary SG siding is visible entering the nearer opening, and one of the wooden 4 wheel trolleys is just apparent inside the building. One of the NG petrol locos (perhaps the only one) stands adjacent to the base of the second A frame from the left.
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97. Water Tower 27/10/21.
A sturdy portal structure just visible to the left may be a hoist straddling the incoming siding, useful for lifting larger items off mainline railway wagons and trnsfering them to trolleys for internal movements (see the putative pulp conveyor machinery cabin in an earlier photo). The electricity supply runs to the upright and runs down to a switch – probably for lighting.
A roughly horizontal dark line in the A of the A frame just above the stack of glazed earthenware pipes is the temprary siding which enters the machine house north end to bring in the paper machine parts.
In the immediate foregroubd is just visible the oint lever for one of the internal spurs, probably leading down to the river bank where the steam cranes are working to excavate the bank. Alternatively it could be where the link from the mainline comes into the internal system (see the ’70s/’80s photos of the link).
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96. Tank floor 27/10/21.
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95. Engineers’ shop and salle, 4/10/21.
Looking towards the river in a north easterly direction (approx), chimneys of the derelict brick / cement works on the other bank are visible beyond. Taken from roughly the north end of no 1 & 2 machine house.
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94. Nos 1 & ” Machine House 4/10/21.
Drying sections of both machines nearly complete, felt guide or table rolls stacked as well as pulley sheaves for the belt drives. On the temporary SG siding at the end an LNWR 1 plank dropside wagon.
The trussed structure at the end of the machine house has gone, there is now a large air duct in that space, so potentially the truss was a temporary support and work platform for the installation of the duct. The roof heating plant fan was in the end of no 2 annexe, see attached plan extract.
93. Water Tower, 3/10/21.
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92. Clay Bunker, 3/10/21.
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90 + 91. Conveyor 9/9/21.
In photo 91, construction of a river pier for the no 2 conveyor is evident to the right.
89. Coal Bunkers and Shaft, 9/9/21.
Panning slightly to the right from the previous view, this (slightly enhanced) photo shows the steam crane at work, and the loco just visible by the A frame. Not all the loaded wagons were shunted by locomotive as some poor fellows are seen pushing skips along towards the Ferry House Inn, where the spoil was used to build out the river bank. The results of the crane’s excavations can be seen to the right, where the wharf wall, constructed in a trench on the river bank (see photos 1 and 2) has been exposed to the river.
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