Engines > From Kits/Castings

Textile Mill Diorama

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J.L.:
Hello Fellows,

Thanks for your early interest in the project.

Yes, Marv, those two aluminum casting kits are the last two I have not built from PMR. I just had to find a spot for them in this diorama. You know your history when you mention children. A quick Google search about child labour in the textile mills will reveal countless photos of very young children staring at the camera standing in groups in their bare feet!

Hi Jason,
Yes, I haven't heard anything about that enigne and the cost of shipping it in over a week. The site is down, so I can't order it online. Interesting you should mention a boiler. It will be the starting point for the entire project.  Thank you for identifying that stationary engine.

Terry, the boiler in the mill will be a Lancashire boiler!

Cheers...John

Dave Otto:
Hey John

Looking forward to following along with another one of your interesting projects.


Dave

Larry Sw:
So will you make some weaving machinery too with all the associated thread runs ?  :>)

Larry S

b.lindsey:
John, when I was a kid of maybe 9 or so, I was travelling with my dad once during the summer (he was in the mill supply business) and he thought I might like to see the inside of a textile mill which was one of his customers. Come to find out that in Georgia at least, the child labor laws which ended child labor in the mills was so strictly enforced that even visitors under the age of 18 were not allowed to set foot in any production area. Oddly enough, when I finished college and grad school, my first job was with the largest textile producer in the southeast. Though most of the mills had been modernized, there was one plant that still ran off of line shafts (though not driven by steam). As you noted, parts of the various mills I worked in were still of beam construction with hardwood floors with literally thousands of discarded ring travelers embedded into the hardwood. As the mills modernized the beams were replaced by steel and concrete. It was one of the most enjoyable parts of my early career. I was sad to see textiles leave the country, it was a fascinating industry with so much history to it.

Bill

deltatango:
Hi John,
I'm really looking forward to following your next diorama build.

While visiting the UK last year we went to Quarry Bank Mill near Manchester which is run by the National trust as a working museum. If you haven't been then it is well worth a visit. They even have the maintenance fitters' workshop set up with its own little steam engine, bolted to a ceiling beam to drive the line shafts to the machines. The mill was originally water powered only but a beam engine and horizontal engine were added later, the originals went for scrap but typical examples have been used as replacements.

I've attached a few pictures that may help with details, if you need full size ones, please say so and I'll send them on.

Regards, David

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