Kidderminster Turntable
The 70ft vacuum turntable ex-Fort William, which had resided for several years at Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell Railway, arrived on the SVR in June 1980[1]. The Railway originally planned to install it at Bewdley South in the Stourport Triangle[1], the fork between the Kidderminster and Stourport branches, but the development of Kidderminster led to its installation there instead. A track plan published shortly before Kidderminster opened in July 1984 showed a proposed site for the turntable on the station side of Kidderminster Footbridge[2], however the eventual location chosen was on the same side of the line (to the right when leaving the station) but a similar distance beyond the footbridge.
Fund raising to install the turntable began in the summer of 1991, and installation was completed in time for the autumn steam gala in 1994. Visiting locomotive 60103 Flying Scotsman was turned as a prelude to the gala in a christening ceremony carried out by Lady Lucinda Lambton, although 600 Gordon had already managed a turn during an earlier 'Thomas' event.
During the run up to installation a number of the large and small cast iron pads that support the ring rail were found to be missing. Patterns were made at the SVR's pattern-shop from original drawings and replacements were cast. With the SVR Charitable Trust more recently wishing to add some additional connections to the turntable the pattern set for the larger ring rail pads was refurbished at the Pattern Shop at Bridgnorth to allow further pads to be cast.
The turntable is driven by a vacuum motor, powered by the locomotive being turned. Two large vacuum reservoir cylinders can be evacuated in advance by a vacuum fitted locomotive to allow carriages or non vacuum fitted locomotives to be turned. In the event of no vacuum source being available, a cranking handle is provided.
Another turntable ex-Whitchurch was already in the SVR’s possession at that time, originally intended for installation at Bridgnorth[1]. This turntable is no longer at the SVR, reportedly now being in Mallaig, Scotland.
A third turntable was acquired in 1998 ex-Bristol (Bath Road), also for installation at Bridgnorth. Pending a decision on where it should be installed, it was moved into storage at Eardington where it remains.
The Kidderminster turntable is owned by the SVR Charitable Trust.
Contents
Contents
Images
The vacuum motor
The main control box
The main control box
Turntable controls
The vacuum connection
The ring rail and wheels
