Daniel Adamson News 2011

Most recent news appears first.

KEEPING BUSY

With both crankshafts now fitted it was the turn of the volunteers to start rebuilding both engines, this was deemed a priority job so the manning of this task became the focus for the Tuesday and Thursday working parties.  The first part of the rebuild was to install the connecting rods and piston rods, this required 8 sets of bearings to be bedded in - the four big end bearings that connect the con-rods to the crankshafts (two per engine) and the four crosshead bearings that connect the  con-rods to the piston rods.

The first task was to temporally refit the turning gear to both engines, which allowed the crankshafts to be rotated easily and safely to give access to the big end journals. Meanwhile our chippies constructed wooden platforms that rested on the hull frames under the crankshaft journals to give us a solid and level-working base. This allowed us to use our large baulk of timber, that just fitted between the crankshaft webs, to support the big end
bearings during assembly.

The “bedding in” of the big end bearings was done without the con-rods attached, this made it slightly less arduous and because of the space restrictions and safety concerns each bearings was done in turn. The bearing was bolted onto its corresponding journal using the timber a support for the bottom half whilst the top half of the bearing together with the two spacers, was placed over the bolts, pushed down onto the journal and the nuts tightened down.

The Hunslet Steam Co had bored the bearings out to within a few thou, so the “bedding in” method was similar to the one used for the crankshafts, using “engineer’s blue” and lead wire.

The procedure for “bedding in” each bearing was: -
1. Blueing the journal
2. Assembling the bearing
3. Rotating 360 degrees on the journal
4. Dismantle the bearing
5. Scraping away the high spots on the bearing indicated by the “blue”

This procedure was repeated until an even coating of “blue” was visible over the full bearing face.The gap between bearing and journal was checked by placing lead wire on the journal and bolting up the bearing again. When the bearing was re-opened the thickness of the lead wire was measured with a micrometer.

This exercise was repeated for the other three big end bearings before our attention turned to the crosshead bearings. These bearings only move about 60 degrees on their journal, 30 degrees each side of the vertical where as the big end bearings rotate 360 degrees around their journals and consequently the crosshead bearings are a bit easier to bed in and were done in the relative comfort of the workshop.The bearing comes in two halves and was clamped on to the con-rod journal with a G clamp, this allowed the bearing to be oscillated on the journal imitating the movement when in operation. Using this motion the bedding in process was the same as the big end bearings using "engineer’s blue" and lead wire.

Once the "bedding in" was complete the con-rod and piston rod were connected together with the crosshead bearing, the whole assembly was then hoisted up vertically to check if the con-rod swung free on the bearing.

When all four bearings had been checked everything was dismantled and transported back on board ready for re-assembly. Each piston rod/ con-rod was assembled in turn, the piston rod pulled up into the cylinder from below and then held at the top of its travel by wire strops. The timber support was again used to support the big end bearings as the con-rod was manoeuvred into place before it was bolted onto the bearing using the bearing retaining bolts. The piston rod was then lowered down so the crosshead bearing could be positioned onto the con-rod journal. All the bearing retaining nuts were flogged up tight and the slipper guides fitted between the crosshead and the engine columns.   

- John Hake

OCTOBER 05, 2011

DANIEL ADAMSON PRESERVATION SOCIETY - HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND APPLICATION

DAPS Patron and BBC Antiques Roadshow expert, Paul Atterbury added: "While the HLF's decision is disappointing, and to me very surprising, it does not in any way diminish my enthusiasm for the Daniel Adamson project. This is an exceptional vessel with a remarkable history and the completion of the restoration project, which I am certain will take place, will give Liverpool, and the nation, an asset of immense historical value and contemporary social benefit."

DAPS OPEN DAY & AGM 2011

On a rainy Saturday 3rd of September we had our annual open day where society members, invited guests and a number of members of the public come and have a look at the "Danny"

This year we limited the number of places available to the general public because we had a few safety concerns about having large numbers of people moving around the vessel.

We always like to invite people to our Open Day as a thank you, especially those who have helped us in some way throughout the year and others who are supporting our cause. It is a good way to showcase the workings of our society and they can see at first hand the commitment of our members to the restoration of our fine vessel.

This year our guests included :-
Rt Hon Lousie Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside
Rt Hon Maria Eagle, MP for Garston & Halewood
Martyn Heighton, Director of National Historic Ships
David Morgan, Chairman of Heritage Afloat
Liverpool Cllr Wendy Simon
Liverpool Cllr Gary Millar

We had about a hundred of our society members attend and I trust that they were all suitably impressed by the amount of work that has been carried out by the volunteers over the last 12 months.

The free bus tours of Liverpool docks were put on again because last year it proved to be very popular as it was this year with the three trips being full. So it is thanks again to Merseyside Transport Trust for bringing along two of their ex-Liverpool Corporation buses and thanks to Stuart Wood, our vice-chairman, for his expert commentary.  You can visit Merseyside Transport Trust website at www.mttrust.co.uk .

The Adamson Military Band provided the musical and marching interludes 

The Saturday evening dinner was at the Hillcrest Hotel where our patron, Paul Atterbury, entertained everybody with his talk on the "Secrets of the Antique Road Show".   

The AGM was also held a the Hillcrest Hotel on Sunday morning, was well attended with everybody enjoying the interesting presentations. 

A word of thanks goes to our Sandon Dock Facilities Manager Kevin Price, who starts planning for the open day about 6 months before the event, when he informs United Utilities, Peel Ports and GCA of our plans and sees if they have any objections. Two months before the event, he starts the planning in earnest by producing detailed plans, rosters and schedules.

We would also like to thank Peel Ports, United Utilities and GCA for allowing us have our visitors on their sites.

- John Hake

Supporters of our project, Front to Back, Cllr Gary Miller, DAPS Patron Paul Atterbury, Rt Hon Member for Liverpool Riverside- Louise Ellman MP, Cllr Wendy Simon, Rt Hon Member for Speke & Halewood- Maria Eagle MP & DAPS Chairman Dan Cross 

Right: DAPS Chairman Dan Cross shows Maria Eagle MP the saloon. (Far right) Martyn Heighton, Director of National Historic Ships voices his encouragement for our project.

(left) The Merseyside Transport Trust bus loads up for another trip round the docks.

(right) DAPS Education & Outreach officer Dave Brown gives his presentation to the AGM.

WEB SITE NEW LOOK

Over the past two weekends various maintenance tasks have been undertaken on the Daniel Adamson web site. However, the most apparent has occurred this week.

There has been a change in colour scheme. The old blue / red scheme was become tired to say the least and was not really sympathetic to the new style of logo. In fact it clashed somewhat.

Things have been changed to make the site clearer to read, the heavy blue background has made way for plain white. Much of the main text which was presented in bold has been changed to normal font, almost all fonts are not presented as arial.

It is hoped that the new presentation is a noticeable improvement over what went before.    

- John H. Luxton

TECHNOLOGY HELPS DAPS RAISE FUNDS & PROFILE

Firstly, as you know, the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society in addition to our excellent website, now also has it’s own, well visited “Face Book” page which can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Adamson-Preservation-Society/142362645811566

We try and put short updates on and some photo’s, more in depth reports of course will still be found on the website. We have however been encouraged to take out a “Twitter” account which for those who don’t know, is a “micro blogging” website, each message is restricted to 140 characters. What I does do of course, is encourage people to “follow you” and also in turn, people can then follow progress through a different media and in a different way. I intent to try and update the site a few times a week at least. Just go to www.twitter.com and search for the Danny under the name: @dannyinsteam

Finally, the 21^st century and it’s influence on a 1903 built steam ship doesn’t stop at Facebook and Twitter!

As of today, DAPS are now registered for a TEXT DONATION service which is run free of charge by Vodafone and JustGiving.

Yes, as from today you can now donate to DAPS directly by sending a text to: 70070 and enter the code DAPS01 followed by the amount you wish to donate ie; £5/£10. DAPS get 100% of the donation and you can also register for gift aid. Simples! Please spread the word!

- Dan Cross

BEARING WITNESS

With the crankshafts now safely aboard, the next job was to get the main crankshaft bearings fitted and bedded in.

This job was contracted out to Mersey Heritage Ship Repair Co. of Bromborough, not because we didn't have the necessary skills, rather we required the job to be completed as soon as possible so we could start the engine reassembly.

The re-metalled main bearings, three for each crankshaft, had been machined to size by Hunslet Steam Co. when they reground the crankshafts. So the first job for Mersey Heritage was to verify the bore of the bearings and cut oil grooves in the bearing top halves.

Once this was done the lower half of the bearings were fitted into their respective pockets in the engine. The bearing pockets hold the bearings in position and are an integral part of the engine frame and the crankshaft sits in these bearings.

With the bottom bearings in place the “bedding in” could start, the crankshaft is suspended on chain blocks above the bearings and the journals coated with "engineers blue". The crankshaft is then lowered onto the bearings and rotated, the "engineers blue" is transferred to the bearings where the journal touches. The crankshaft is then lifted clear and these "high spots" on the bearing, which are plainly visible, can be carefully scraped away.

This routine of lowering the crankshaft, rotating it, lifting it and then scraping the bearings is carried on until all the high spots have been removed, this can be verified by observing an even coating of blue on all three bearings.
With one crankshaft done the whole procedure is repeated for the other one and when that’s done it is the turn of the top halves of the bearings to be checked. This time there should be a small gap between the journal and the bearing, so the first check with "engineers blue" is to check that such a gap exists and once this has been confirmed thin lead wire is used to measure the gap.

Three strips of lead wire are placed over the top of each journal, one at each end and the other in the middle. The bearing is then replaced trapping the lead, next the bearing strong back is also replaced and the four holding down nuts are tightened with a flogging spanner and finally the crankshaft is rotated. The procedure is then reversed to release the bearing top, which is removed to expose the now flattened lead wire. The wire is carefully removed and its thickness checked with a micrometer. The gap can be adjusted by either scraping the bearing or adjusting the thickness of the distance piece that sits between the bearing halves. With the gap correct the journal is given a generous coating of oil and the bearing top half replaced and "flogged" down again. This procedure is repeated for the other five bearings.

- John Hake

STAGE 2 LOTTERY APPLICATION SUBMITTED

It gives me great pleasure and a certain amount of relief to be able to announce that at 12:30 on Friday 10th June, our Stage 2 Application to the Heritage lottery Fund was formally submitted and signed papers handed over.

As reported in the local press last week, the application is for just over £2.8million which as well as shipyard restoration costs, also includes furnishing of the saloons and other ship’s equipment, financial support from HLF towards the employment for up to three years of an Education and Outreach Officer, financial support for social inclusion and educational cruises, a contribution towards maintenance for up to five years and various other start-up costs such as training of volunteer crew, surveyors fees, the appointment of a Naval Architect to superintend the project while at the shipyard and other start-up, fitting out and support costs.

The application submitted yesterday has taken some eighteen months to finalise and complete and has been very complex in nature. Developing the shipyard specifications which, while intended to bring the Daniel Adamson back to full, Class V passenger carrying condition and was produced in agreement with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, had to also take into account conservation best practice. For this we regularly spoke to and consulted with The National Historic Ships unit in London. This can only be likened to bringing a Grade 1 listed building back to use as a public space such as a hotel or conference centre. The looks and fabric must be maintained while meeting modern safety standards.

The main application document runs to approximately 180 pages including the fifteen page application form. The document includes:

1. Application form submitted to HLF

2. Project Management Structure

3. Project Timetable

4. Project costs & funding

5. Project cash flow – HLF Funding

6. Management & maintenance plan

7. Management & maintenance cost schedule

8. Operational budget Years 2 – 7

9. Income & spending forecast

10. Financial and market appraisal

11. Activity plan

12. Activity table – education & outreach

13. Activity table – Public

14. Activity table – Volunteers

15. Design Specification

In addition to the above, over the last few years, technical specifications for naval architecture and marine engineering, saloon restoration, electrical and boiler specs have been produced “in house” and approved externally. This main “shipyard Spec” runs to over 400 pages.

Also, our earlier produced Conservation Management Plan, Audience Development Plan and Access Appraisal along with other documents form part of the overall “project package”.

Put together, this all equates to over 1100 pages of information!

The application has as you can see, been a culmination of many years work and a large part of our plans to restore the Daniel Adamson back to her “former Glory” is obviously centred around a successful application. Of course we must remember that we are by no means guaranteed a positive response but we must remain optimistic and confident in the society’s ability to deliver a project that will be more than worthy of the financial cost, not forgetting the HUGE efforts of volunteers who, over the last seven and half years, have expended nearly 70,000 hours on the project. Without the efforts of volunteers right back to February 2004, the Daniel Adamson would already be but a distant memory.

Amongst the application, we have also included excellent letters of support from the following:

Rt Hon Louise Ellman MP for Liverpool Riverside and Chair of the House of Commons Transport select committee

Rt Hon Maria Eagle MP for Garston and Halewood and shadow Transport Secretary.

Rt Hon Derek Twigg MP for Halton

Rt Hon Graham Evans MP for Weaver Vale

Cllr Joe Anderson, Leader, Liverpool City Council

Dr David Fleming, Director – National Museums Liverpool

Also expression of support from Rt Hon Frank Field MP for Birkenhead.

 Match funding remains vital and is now our No 1 priority. The decision from HLF (North West) in Manchester is due on 12 September and if passed to national level in London is due on Tuesday 27th September and I am also doing my utmost to raise the society’s profile nationally which is vital in the bid to raise awareness.

PLEASE remember that if we are indeed successful in September, we would not be able to begin work on the HLF project until the necessary “match funding” is in place.

All donations will be treated as donations towards the “Full Ahead” campaign and as such, will form part of the match funds. All money donated will be placed into our bank account and only used to match fund a potential grant from HLF. In effect the donations will be securely “ring fenced”.

Donations should be sent to George Robinson, Treasurer, Daniel Adamson Preservation Society, Southwood Cottage, 79 Southwood Road, Cottingham, HU16 5AJ with cheques made payable to ‘Daniel Adamson Preservation Society’

Alternatively you can donate on line at our website with credit/ debit cards, just click on the “donate” button.

Finally a big thank you to all the volunteers both aboard the vessel, helping promote the project at shows and the many involved in getting the application ready and to a standard we are very content and pleased with.

To coin an age old phrase……..fingers crossed!

- Dan Cross

MAY 03, 2011

FULL STEAM AHEAD CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Approximately six weeks since the launch of our ambitious “Full Steam Campaign” to our members and recently to the general public, we are delighted to announce that the response has been super and today we passed the mile stone of reaching £15,000 raised so far, primarily form members of the society. Thank you.

National media such as magazines and local papers are now carrying the story of the campaign launch and we hope to build on this early and fantastic start.

Also many, many application packages have now been dispatched to potential corporate sponsors and grant giving organisations and trusts seeking grants towards our campaign to raise up to £200,000 as match funding towards our application for approximately £2.8million which should be submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in June for a decision by the National Trustees of the fund in London by September this year.

Although we hope to be successful with our HLF application, if we are indeed successful, we would not be able to draw on an awarded grant until all match funds are in place, making the “Full Steam Ahead” campaign especially important in the bid to restore the 1903 built Steam Tug-Tender “Daniel Adamson” back to full, passenger carrying, steam powered condition.

For those wishing to donate, their contribution will be ring fenced and used for the purpose of match funding. You can go to www.danieladamson.co.uk and donate on line using the “donate” button using credit/ debit cards or alternatively Donations should be sent to George Robinson, Treasurer, Daniel Adamson Preservation Society, Southwood Cottage , 79 Southwood Road, Cottingham, HU16 5AJ with cheques made payable to ‘Daniel Adamson Preservation Society’.

- Dan Cross

TURNING POINT

On the "Danny" the rudder is moved by a rod and chain system, chain is used from the steering engine in the wheelhouse over a series of pulleys down to the scuppers on the port and starboard sides. The rods are then connected to the chains and they run on rollers in the scuppers.

Near the stern, the rods are replaced by chains where they run round another series of pulleys until they get to the steering quadrant, the port & starboard chains run round the quadrant in opposite directions and are shackled to their opposing sides.
 

The steering quadrant is bolted to the tiller arm, which in turn is connected to the rudder stock, when the quadrant is pulled either way by the chains the rudder will move accordingly.

Our original steering quadrant was rusted and really beyond repair, so it was decided that a new one was the best option.
Hunslet Steam Co. offered to manufacture a new one for us, the old one was sent down as a pattern so they could make an exact replica.
 

The new one they made is an excellent piece of work and it comes fully riveted just as the original was.    

- John Hake

EASY DOES IT

In November last we reached another milestone in the restoration project, after 32 months and a few trials and tribulations we have finally got the two crankshafts back on board the vessel.

As a quick recap, the crankshafts and associated bearings were removed in March 2008, the bearings were delivered to J. H. Richards in Birmingham for re-metalling and the cranks, together with other bits, were taken to Industrial Crankshafts in Walsall.

J. H. Richards completed the re-metalling and passed the bearings onto Industrial Crankshafts.

Industrial Crankshafts crack tested the crankshafts in May 2008 but then the job seemed to stall.  After numerous enquiries asking how the job was progressing we heard rumours in early 2009 that the company was in difficulties, by March we were told that they were going into voluntary liquidation.

After some frantic phone calls and a trip down to Walsall we eventually got the crankshafts and all the other parts back in May.

The Industrial Crankshaft episode lost us about £2800 and over 18 months in time.

We re-started the process by getting quotes to regrind the crankshafts and machine the bearings, a job that was given to Hunslet Steam Co. who gave us a very competitive quote.  The cranks and bearings were dispatched to them in March 2010 and returned to us in November.

The job of lifting and shifting the crankshafts back onboard was again left to the professionals and the lads from Cammell Laird's made the whole job look easy.

 The following set of images show the two crankshafts being returned from Hunslet Steam Co. and being off loaded from the transport, with the help of a passing fork lift, to a temporary storage area, then the starboard crank being craned aboard and put in place between the engine columns.  

- John Hake

DANIEL ADAMSON PRESERVATION SOCIETY DOCK & RIVER CRUISE

Saturday 30th July.

Full Steam Ahead on the Daniel Adamson River and Dock Cruise.

Departing Seacombe 10:00, Liverpool 10:10 and Woodside 10:20.

After a short river cruise, The ferry will lock into and travel the full length of the operational North docks with expert on-board commentary from our Vice Chairman, Stuart Wood who will be accompanied by Andy Ball from BBC Radio Merseyside.

The cruise will extend as far as Sandon Half-tide Basin, enabling those on board to get excellent views of the `Daniel Adamson from the water rather than the quayside.

Tickets will be just £20 each for the four hour cruise and are available from the three Mersey Ferries terminals.

Alternatively if you live away and will be travelling in on the day, limited tickets are available from Mr Kevin Price, 21 Lawson Close, Woolston, Warrington, WA1 4EG

All proceeds from the cruise will go to the Society and go towards our "Full Steam Ahead" campaign to raise match funding for our Heritage Lottery Fund application.

A Press release regarding the "Full Steam Ahead" campaign which has just been launched to the membership with a great reception, will be issued in the coming week.

Keep the 30th July free! Should be an excellent day out.

7 YEARS TODAY!

Well the 21^st February 2011 marks the seventh anniversary of the calling of the inaugural meeting of what was to become the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society. Don’t for one second think that preservation is all pre-planned and well-rehearsed. News of the Daniel Adamson’s imminent scrapping broke at the 11^th hour. The best way to give web site visitors a flavour of what it was like back in 2004 is to read the following few paragraphs taken from the recently published book by DAPS, “Daniel Adamson- A Unique Survivor”:

The next three days saw me making and receiving literally dozens of phone calls, trying to post messages posted on chat groups, other specialist websites and old friends re-contacted. It all culminated on Friday 20^th February and the clock well and truly ticking. To preserve peoples modesty at this point, I will say that it is amazing how Humankind can throw up some heroes from unlikely places. Needless to say, by 4pm on the Friday afternoon, I was sitting in front of the Chief Engineer and Director of the Manchester Ship Canal Co in Bridgewater house, Runcorn. Somehow, maybe just being bloody minded I am not sure, I had just managed with the aid of a letter, outlining the offer from Svitzer, to secure the Daniel Adamson for preservation, subject to a few conditions for £1.

In the background, Bruce Biddulph was arranging to come down to Ellesmere Port the following day to take a look at the tug and see if he could help. An impromptu meeting was called for 10:30 on the Saturday morning but the meeting was only called at 5pm on the Friday afternoon. The hastily arranged meeting was arranged with the management at the Boat Museum who appeared to be pleased the news had broken and something was being done, albeit without them taking an active role. Now of course the major problem was trying to ensure I was not going to be the sole attendee at such a meeting. I phoned a few contacts and emailed a few people. Details of the meeting were quickly posted on websites including Tugtalk, John Luxton’s Irish Sea Shipping news website, a couple of discussion groups and on a news discussion sight set up by the  National Historic Ships Committee as it then was. The Boat Museum Society or BMS were, on the Friday night holding their AGM and an announcement was made there.

 So Saturday 21^st came and a meeting arranged in around eighteen hours, publicised mainly by the World Wide Web but with the intention of saving a 1903 built masterpiece. By 11:00 that morning, twenty one people were in attendance to see what could be done. From Anglesey in N Wales, Skipton in Yorkshire, the Midlands and all over Merseyside, Cheshire, Manchester and Lancashire, people who nearly all did not know each other had responded to the call. Bruce Biddulph was still in a hire car after his car had broken down and was on the M6 heading in our direction, not to be put off by mere mechanical failure!

The first thing to do after an initial discussion was to inspect the vessel, a chance for us all to see what we were trying to save. An hour or more was then spent by prospective members, investigating the various spaces and taking a look inside the boiler room, engine room and saloon, all of which had been opened up by the Museum for us.

Very quickly the extent of the damage many years of neglect and vandalism had on the vessel. I suppose at this point it would have been easy to just walk away but all of us there that day appreciated just how close the scrapping was if nothing was done. The crews quarters were indistinguishable and the saloons were anything but “grand”. The boiler room and engine room were full of broken glass and debris, there was and remains one, very important factor in all of this and I maintain this has been a key to our success so far. That is that the Daniel Adamson is a manageable size. She is not to big and on the face of it, she is not to small either. Large enough to carry passengers again and with that will come revenue. With revenue comes the chance of a future. This is vitally important.

Retiring back to a meeting after inspecting the vessel, several people offered advice and we discussed the options open to us. We eventually agreed that the establishing of a registered company, limited by guarantee and having no share capital was the first step in the direction so as to reduce the risk to prospective members. The company would be constituted like many museums and our Memorandum and Articles would reflect that of a charitable organisation with a specific objective, based around a single object.

By the end of that momentous day in February, twenty two people, most of whom had not met before had agreed a way forward and furthermore had appointed five officers to take the project forward. These included Tony Hirst as Chairman, Tony already being very well acquainted with the vessel and its history as he was the former Director of the Boat Museum. Tony’s museum background certainly helped us a great deal in the process of establishing the trust, what was to become the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society and after only a few months a registered charity. Tony initially offered to be Chairman for twelve months but eventually stood down in September 2009 and has been given the honorary title of Life President of the society. Tony continues to assist with fund raising and grant application including applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Alan Hughes, a former Mersey Tugboat man and later to own and operate his own passenger boat business on the Leeds & Liverpool canal became Treasurer. Pat Crecraft, a lifelong canal enthusiast and long standing member of the Boat Museum Society (BMS) became Secretary with the un-enviable task of recruiting and keeping track of memberships. John Luxton, a teacher, I.T. guru and owner of the excellent shipping news website – www.irishseashipping.co.uk was appointed to create a website for us and produce a magazine for members along with general publicity. Dan Cross (that’s me) was to become Vice-Chairman and general fixer and generally coordinating the initial actions which lead up to the dry-docking in Liverpool.

Please check the what’s new section for further “blasts from the past” and more importantly news about our “Full Steam Ahead” campaign.

- Dan Cross - February 21, 2011

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Seeing that winter has us in its grip, come with me and we'll take a trip to where the climes are a little warmer, inside the boiler. Our boiler is a single ended marine scotch boiler with three Morrison corrugated furnaces, it is approximately 14' in diameter and 10' deep. It was manufactured by John G Kincaid, Marine Engineers & Boilermakers of Greenock, Scotland and was fitted as new in 1953 when the Danny had her last major refit.

The refit was carried out at the small ship repair yard on the banks of the ship canal at Ellesmere Port and which was known locally as "The Pontoon".

The smoke box was removed in 2006 because it was rusted through in places and was in danger of falling off, this was due to the funnel cover being removed during its stay at Ellesmere Port and many years of rain down the funnel ends up in the smoke box.
The majority of the boiler tubes were also removed in 2006, a few stay tubes were left in place to act as supports to the boiler front and combustion chambers.

- John Hake
 

The feed pipe sweeps round the inside of the boiler ending up in the middle of the boiler just below the water level. The feed water is ejected into the boiler through the series of small holes, this is to reduce the thermal shock of cooler feed water being pumped into a hot boiler.

JANUARY 29, 2011

TOWLINE

Apologies for the delay with the edition that was due with you by the end of the year. We are glad to report that the latest, information packed edition is now in the post and should be with all the members by the middle of next week. This edition also includes a competition to win a new DVD produced by the Daily Post and written and presented by our very own Peter Elson, entitled “Liverpool Liners”. An excellent DVD and features some fascinating footage including interviews conducted aboard the Daniel Adamson last year. 

FACEBOOK

DAPS are now also on face book and some interesting video’s and a small selection (so far) of images have been added. Just search for “Daniel Adamson Preservation Society” . One such video was taken of the Daniel Adamson’s departure from the Manchester Ship Canal under tow back in May 2004 and can be viewed on the Facebook page. [click here]

TALK

Chairman Dan Cross will be giving a talk to the P.S.P.S. (Paddle Steamer Preservation Society) on Saturday 19^th February at 2 p.m. at the Manchester Museum of Transport, Boyle Street, Manchester, M8 8UW about the Daniel Adamson. The talk will accompany his recent book about the Adamson which we are pleased to say is selling well with all proceeds to DAPS. You can download an order form here  Download Order Form  [PDF]

7 YEARS

Next month it will be seven years since DAPS was founded on Saturday 21^st February 2004 with the Daniel Adamson just days away from being towed to the breakers. We will be celebrating the anniversary next month with some new photographs from the time the society was created and took ownership of the Daniel Adamson.