Titanic's Reciprocating Engines

[Cian O'Reilly]

Excellent work Cian, I've been admiring it for some time. Your handling of the texture is impressive, the painted castings look photographically real.

Two items for thought:
-the reverser appears to be based on a page of Sothern's circa 1936 "Verbal Notes" book that appeared on the old TRMA forum. Unfortunately the manual pump, selector switch and the casting bosses for the pipes from the pump are not in the H&W photo of the Britannic engine. The ships instead had steam/hydraulic pumps on the aft engine room bulkhead for operation of the reverser during engine maintenance. I've not found the interconnecting pipes illustrated on any drawing or photo however.

-the Britannic's engine was lengthened with an extra crankshaft bearing between the HP and IP cylinders. This left room for a catwalk over the bearing, it shows in one of the shop pictures. There is no catwalk over the other bearings however and no similar catwalks at all on the Olympic or Titanic.

Bill

Hi Bill. Thanks for the input. I've been wondering about the config for the Reversing Engine foe a while now. The version currently added also shows up in the technical volume of TTSM. However, I initially went with the version you mentioned which is the one that is visible on the Britannic, both in photographs and in plans. given that there were clear differences between the Britannic's engines and those of her sisters I didn't have too much of a problem with the version I went with. But...I am inclined to revisit that choice in favour of the Reversing Engine you point to. Fortunately, I have that version partially built, so it's not a huge amount of work to do so...it's no harm to have both versions and my suspicion is that you are correct on this...
Regarding catwalk accross the lower engine, I'll come back to that when I have more time if you're ok to discuss?

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Hi Bill, just to continue on from the previous post and discuss the catwalks traversing the engine at the lower level - the layout of the catwalks. In the early stages of constructing my 3d model I actually included the central main bearing you mentioned, mistakenly assuming it to be present on Olympic and Titanic, but removing it when the error was pointed out to me. At the same time I configured the catwalks as indicated in available plans of the Britannic's engines.
Ultimately though, the layout of these catwalks as they appear in the model is based not only on the available imagery of the Britannic but also on one of Robert Welch's images of Titanic's engines in the H&W engine works, which seems to indicate the presence of catwalks not only at each end of the engine but also the wider one you see in the middle - see attached images. While I think that the first two catwalks are fairly clear in the image, the third (at the forward end of the engine) is basically occluded from sight by the support column and the bearing casing but I can make out what appears to be an upright stanchion from an incomplete catwalk rail between the inboard and outboard columns. The attached image cut though only deals with the two visible catwalks at the aft end and in the middle. The first image shows a clearer view of my layout, the second shows the Titanics engines at top and the forward end of one of Britannic's engines at bottom.

 

[Bill West]

Hi Cian.
Your close up Welch H1943 indeed confirms the catwalk crossing the crankshaft between the LPF and HP cylinders on Britannic.

Welch H1710 also clearly shows a catwalk crossing between the HP and IP cylinders on Titanic so I now agree with you there. For a catwalk crossing between the IP and LPA on Titanic, the view seems to reach between the leg footings all the way to the plate against the valve eccentric without showing anything but above the plate and above the first horizontal scaffold plank the railing and then the post can be seen. The walk looks narrow and perhaps with the railing only on one side, your plan would show better just how much width is available. So I agree that on all 3 ships there is a crossing between each set of cylinders.

Bill

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

More Engine update - texturing done on the valve gear (not complete, the crossheads are still to be done), Piston and connecting rods. The biggest change though is to the Reversing Engine. @Bill West , this is the version visible in the photo's of the Britannic. Still some additions to make to it which are in progress. Comments and thoughts welcome.

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

I wanted to get a feel for where all that engine power ultimately ends up, so this crudely put together assembly might give a feel for it. The prop is approximate rather than an exact model and of course there are no thrust blocks and yes, the shaft is only a fraction of it's full length. Think of it as a visual thought experiment

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Latest progress vid -

 

[Bill West]

Hi Cian, the catwalks over the crankshaft look good.

The prop picture is novel but also very good for visualization. One can picture the propellor's ability to grab and push the water when you can see the size of engine needed to turn it. 15,000 horsepower at 75 rpm exerts a 30 ton push through each blade.

Bill

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Working on the Thrust Block...

 

[Mike Spooner]

Working on the Thrust Block...

Great work there indeed.

 

[Mike Spooner]

I am glad you have show the thrust block. As it very much overlook as it is a vital part in the propulsion system in protecting any side thrust movement on the main engine bearings.

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Thrust block and seats. Not finished but mostly there...

 

[Steven Christian]

Thrust block and seats. Not finished but mostly there...

Thats pretty cool. Cheers.

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Hi all, latest Engine vid is posted on YouTube.
While I'm making progress on the control systems and piping on the engine, those elements are not shown in this video - the main reason for creating it was that a number of viewers on YouTube have asked for sound on the vids. I have basically no experience with sound work so this will have to do. Probably not accurate but hopefully captures something of the feel for how these beasts sounded...

 

[Cian O'Reilly]

Work on the Throttle Engine and various oiling and steam lines continues...I will be trying to get the Aspinall's Governor done next and start a more detailed pass on the Cylinder/rods oil system - It's hard to figure this stuff out, so expect errors...

 

[Mike Spooner]

Very good detail work