Manod Quarry
Darrel
that it had been used by the Ministry of Defence.
Somebody told me it had been used as a plane factory in world war 2
Richard Lamont
It was originally a WWII store for national art treasures. A store
building was erected in each of five caves, with temperature and
humidity controls, generator and narrow-guage railway. [1]
In the early 1980s there was a bit of a kerfuffle when a government
minister lied to Parliament about this bunker, after which the
owner of the quarry stated not only that the government *was*
using it, but also that it was doing so illegally, because its
lease had expired! [2]
[1] Kohan, C.M., "Works and Buildings", p.367. (HMSO & Longmans, 1952,
History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series.)
[2] Campbell, D., "War Plan UK".
--
Richard Lamont
ric...@stonix.demon.co.uk
http://www.stonix.demon.co.uk/
Martin Briscoe
from ric...@stonix.demon.co.uk (Richard Lamont) contains these words:
I tried to send Darrel an EMail but it bounced.
The book to get hold of it
"Bless 'Em All - Aspects of the War in North West Wales" by Reg Chambers Jones
It has quite a few pages on Manod and some good photos that I had not
seen before.
I think someone is getting confused with Llanberis over the aircraft factory.
Martin
ejb
>
>I think someone is getting confused with Llanberis over the aircraft
factory.
>
>Martin
>
I thought Llanberis was a WWII bomb store,there where loads of bits of them
dumped in one of the quarries when I had a look in 1969.
ejb
Martin Briscoe
from "ejb" <er...@burke29.freeserve.co.uk> contains these words:
Glyn Rhonwy was a bomb store, then used for handling the German nerve
gas stocks at the end of the war.
The Lancaster bomber factory was across the water at Dinorwic Quarry.
Martin
Dave Liquorice
> The Lancaster bomber factory was across the water at Dinorwic Quarry.
Now part of the pumped storage power station as the surge pond I think? They
dug new caverns a tunnels for the water and generating hall. Amazing
generating station stationary to online feeding the grid in 10 seconds, mind
you it can only run flat out for a few hours if that.
--
Cheers new...@nexus.demon.co.uk
Dave. Remove "spam" for valid email.
David Bowie
Dave Liquorice wrote:
>
> On Sat, 28 Nov 1998 23:20:40 GMT, Martin Briscoe wrote:
>
> > The Lancaster bomber factory was across the water at Dinorwic Quarry.
>
> Now part of the pumped storage power station as the surge pond I think? They
> dug new caverns a tunnels for the water and generating hall. Amazing
> generating station stationary to online feeding the grid in 10 seconds, mind
> you it can only run flat out for a few hours if that.
>
For those that are interested, a little more information concerning
Dinorwic Pumped Storage Power Station :-
a) With a total net ("sent out") output of 1,740MW, Dinworic is the
largest Pumped-Storage Power Plant in Europe. To put this in
perspective, the capacity of the largest single generators connected to
the British system is 660Mw, or, in terms of more familiar landmarks,
Dinworic has the capacity of three-and-a-half Batterseas.
b) This full-load generation can be sustained for 5 hours
continuously.(The corresponding period of time to replenish the
headworks reservoir by pumping is some 6 hours).
c) Whilst undeniably impressive, the figure of 10 seconds to full
output corresponds to operation from "Immediate Response" mode. In this
condition, the turbines are spinning in air at synchronous speed,
(compressed air having been used to depress the water level in the
pump/turbine chamber), and the alternators are electrically connected
to the network. The transfer to generation mode can be automatically
initiated by falling frequency relays. The station was designed so that
two of the six units could be used to provide the total standby
capacity in case a major fossil-fired or nuclear unit trips out.
Fossil-fired units simply cannot achieve anything approaching this
no-load to full-load regime. Typically, a partly-loaded, (hence
comparatively inefficient), generator can increase output by 30% within
3 to 5 MINUTES of demand with half of this occurring in the first few
seconds. Gas Turbines can be started and loaded in 2 minutes, but this
is not fast enough to meet all the sudden changes in demand. From a
complete standstill, Dinorwic can achieve full load generation in a
maximum of 90 seconds, (the 10 seconds to full-load from spinning
reserve, however, is the fastest response of all pumped storage schemes
in the world).
d) The combined outputs of any four of the units are sufficient to
control the frequency of the entire National Grid. This may require
starting and stopping the generators up to typically 40 times per day.
Alternatively, any 2, 3, or 4 units can be alternated between running in
the 60% + load range and "spinning reserve" to provide supplemental
frequency control.
e) In "Pumping Mode", each of the six units consumes some 285MW
from the network. In my personal view, the most impressive statistic is
the ability to change, in an emergency, from full-load pumping to
full-load generation in 90 seconds; this involving a complete reversal
of the machines, the revolving mass of which is in the order of 500
tonnes turning at 500rpm.
f) Another design consideration was the ability of Dinorwic to
restart the network upon the occasion of a complete National Grid
failure. Standby Diesel Generators and large Station Batteries are thus
provided to permit of a "Dead Station" start.
g) At Dinworic, not only are the underground works below the levels
of both the upper and lower reservoirs, but the volume of the hydraulic
system between the top reservoir and the pump-turbine inlet valves is
itself greater than the volume of the underground caverns. Failure of
the main inlet pipe would therefore lead to complete flooding of the
Station. Whilst a comprehensive flood warning system and normal and
emergency duty drain pumps are provided, the design standard is far
greater than that of normal hydro plants to counter against
catastrophic failure of any primary high-pressure components.
Sources :- various, primarily =Advances in Power Station Construction=,
C.E.G.B, Pergamon Press, 1986.
Best Wishes,
David Bowie.
*****************************************************
David Bowie. david...@cableinet.co.uk
Burntisland, Scotland.
*****************************************************
Dave Liquorice
> For those that are interested, a little more information concerning
> Dinorwic Pumped Storage Power Station :-
Excellent stuff. I was working from a 20 year old memory from doubtful
sources. The net output is what I couldn't remember 1.74GW is a bit bigger
than I remember. And pumping to onload in 90 seconds is pretty amazing, I
don't think I'd like to be about in case something broke!