The following pictures, taken by the late Eric Wright,
have been very kindly loaned to me for display on the website
by Mr Martyn Ashworth who worked on the ferry during
its final years. Captions are by Martyn.
Humber Ferry "Lincoln Castle" leaving Corporation Pier in Hull in
the summer of 1976.
Heading across the River Humber to New Holland.
Left photo is of Chief Engineer Pete Moore at the controls. At this
time there were 6 different Chief Engineers and the young
Martyn Ashworth, seen on right photo, often got to "have a go" dependant
on which engineer was on duty.
Martyn says that the controls were actually very simple - there
was a reverser (left) 3 sets of cylinder drains (she was a triple
expansion engine), a start valve and on the right the regulator
which was on a quadrant.
The view from the Chiefs position - the "Turning in gear" sign indicated
that someone was in the paddle boxes applying
grease to the main bearings. It never bothered me doing this although
the swell in the winter
could be quite alarming and I couldn`t swim!
The gauges in front of the drive position. It`s 10.25 am and departure
would have been 10.30. The boiler pressure is a healthy
180 psi - blow off (from memory) was at 200 psi. On a normal sailing
it was possible to go on 3 fires with one run down for cleaning
which was done en route. However when the Spring Tides were running
we used to sail down the Humber towards Spurn then
turn and cut across the river in a channel between the sand banks
in the middle of the river and then go all the way back upstream,
fighting the ebb tide, towards New Holland. On these trips you needed
4 really bright fires.
Left photo is view from Chiefs position looking down on the engine
- we all kept the engine room spotlessly clean
and took great pride in the appearence of the engine. Right photo
shows Martyn oiling up the motion.
Left - Looking up towards the Chiefs position from engine room floor.
The high pressure cylinder is the one that you can see.
Right - One of the 3 sets of expansion links and die blocks which
gave the Chief the forward - reverse movement of the
engines - they reversed very quickly which was handy when "coming
alongside".
Bottom end of the HP rocking arms - note how clean and highly polished
we kept them.
The mechanical lubricators - the Chief Engineers could keep a close
eye on these from where they stood
and ensure they were feeding the cylinders correctly.
The auxiliary pumps - used for fire fighting and deck cleaning etc.