That has held up very nicely, and so much exposed copper has a lovely tint to it :coolgleamA:

Although, BS on 'old stuff was built better, tougher etc.' Wylex have always been rubbish in comparison to everyone else in my opinion. 60's MEM & Bell boxs always look good as new, seem to use less cooper and tend to be a safer design
 
We had a EE board that I had a love hate relationship with. I loved the thing it hated me! it had 400A porcelain fuse carriers to get them out I had to grab the handle with both hands, feet braced against the panel and PULL. I always landed flat on my back.
 
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most of the old "fuse boards" ( i am using this term correctly in this instance) are made by Bill. We have some english electric busbar trunking about on some sites (with the old round busbar, not like the flat double stuff you seem to get everywhere now|). We aslo have some old GE ACB's. i dont like being about when these are racked in and out. Ive heard stories where the spark couldnt get the prongs to disengage from the busbar, so in goes a length of 4x2 and its hammered off. there have also been a few fires caused by unmaintained ACB's catching alight.
To be honest im not 100% familiar with the operation of these beasts so its best to leave it alone. Im fine with large MCCB's that need charging up ect, but ve never racked in or out an ACB.
 
To be honest im not 100% familiar with the operation of these beasts so its best to leave it alone. Im fine with large MCCB's that need charging up ect, but ve never racked in or out an ACB.



Nothing to it johnboy, It's just like an old engine starter handle with a square key on the end. That's the easy part, it's the removing or placing an ACB on the rack that's the hard part. Most need a made for purpose mobile hoist to get them in or out!! They weigh a ton, even if they don't look as if they do. ..lol!!
 
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most of the old "fuse boards" ( i am using this term correctly in this instance) are made by Bill. We have some english electric busbar trunking about on some sites (with the old round busbar, not like the flat double stuff you seem to get everywhere now|). We aslo have some old GE ACB's. i dont like being about when these are racked in and out. Ive heard stories where the spark couldnt get the prongs to disengage from the busbar, so in goes a length of 4x2 and its hammered off. there have also been a few fires caused by unmaintained ACB's catching alight.
To be honest im not 100% familiar with the operation of these beasts so its best to leave it alone. Im fine with large MCCB's that need charging up ect, but ve never racked in or out an ACB.

You’ve reminded me John, this was not my best afternoon at work.

A quiet Saturday afternoon I’d got a job to do on our distribution system, I’d been avoiding it for months. Two Ellison ACB’s fed the sub board I wanted to work on so I opened and isolated both. Got the job done and got ready to re-energies the system. normal operation would be the sub board bus-section closed, No.1 ACB closed and No.2 ACB open. Started the plant up and I went to check the sub board, every thing was fine. A shout came on the radio from the charge hand fitter “you’d better get to the distribution sub quick! The place is full of smoke!” OK isolated No.1 ACB and swapped over to No.2. The fitter went to the sub board (he told me to **** off when I asked him to stay in the sub.) every thing seemed fine but with the smell of burning from the first fire it took me a while to realise No.2 was on fire.
It was a long shift, I nearly got in to a fight on another plant where their electrician found me nicking one of their breakers. I could understand him getting annoyed had they not nicked one of our OtterMill breakers the month before.

I ended up with one OtterMill and two Ellison breakers to repair. All our engineer did was laugh when he found out what had gone on.

I still like Ellison breakers, not keen on OtterMill, I think Fred Flintstone had something to do with their design. it took myself and two fitters to get an OtterMill back in to the cubical.
 
the above phots remind me of the pride that used to be taken in our engineering,. that has now gone. Ive been on jobe where there was tiled floors, and weve had to rip out an old booster plant, and replace it, along with switchgear ect. Cable trenches had to be dug and a lot of civils were required for the new pumps. Well, the place got a lick of paint after, but the nice tiled floor was never replaced, it was left as concrete.
I find it a real shame when i walk into old pumping stations and you can see that the buildings are falling apart. Some of them have old kitchens and mess rooms that used to be used when the stations were permanently manned. Now they gather dust, and the plaster and paint isd often falling form the ceilings. Many of the buildings should be listed, but theyre not, and the water company is not keen on it either.
 
Now these Did get me woried. Dependant Manual Opperation (DMO) OCB's Theye looked fantastic. Both had a reputation for the oil tanks exploding. When I started my apprenticeship we had seven substations with a mixture of these.

You've reminded me of the 3.3kv skid-switches used with the navis in the quarry. They were DMO, I never did like them.
 
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I beleive that south east water own works that are that old, but have been refurbished. I know that they still have boreholes with access ladders that you can climb down approx 100m below ground. Apparently there are hand built tunnels below. I worked above the borehole, but never had the balls to climb down. Its too risky with regards to gases ect.
 
I'll find the picture of the exact one I used to work on. It's acctually in a museum now!

- - - Updated - - -

9AD4347F-5F6D-46D3-916F-8EC6CB0532C5-6710-0000061EB9B3F205.jpg
 
We had 4 RB150's and two RB120's.
Would like to see our Electrical Trainee's set loose on the Ward Leonard drives.
 
It would certainly thin the heard. I spent a few years getting my head around everything on them, by the time I had they were made redundant
 
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