Doxford Engines Works

[pressbrake1]

There was one chief engineer a few years back in my cadetship that was like that. He made us all look like trained monkyes in comparison he finally retired last year he was in his seventys though.

I worked with a ex chief ships engineer working on high pressure steam. Learnt a lot off him

 

[Robbie260]

@Robbie260 is that an RTA96? Sailed with those years ago on box boats. Looks like a nice clean engine room there.

No it's a Man B&W MEC electronic engine with chain driven hydraulic pumps, RTAs went out a while ago go on the big box boats as they are always trying to be more fuel efficient. RT flex has taken over now instead of the RTA.

Yeah it's an brand new box ship only 8 months old.

 

[scottmk1]

Ok, I think RT flex engines just came on the scene as I moved away from big ships

 

[addjunkie]

Unfortunately the doxford is now gone from the doxford shop at south shields, shame really as it came out of a bp tanker and I know by fluke the chief engineer from that ship.

As perviously said The loop and cross scavenging diesel 2 stroke are really really quite as there is no exhaust valves and either hydraulics or rocker gear thundering away so you didn't need hearing protection to stand near them also. Instead of turbo chargers the space under the positions was used to compress the charge air so no turbo whine either. There were sometimes roots blowers but not many engines used these. The exhaust Valve on modern engines again as said before hand replaced by ports cut into the liner wall with reed valves as the position moved down it uncovered the ports allowing the gas exchange process to occur. You still have the ports to let air into the cylinderView attachment 157376 but the uniflow modern system uses an exhaust Valve at the top of the cylinder.

The crank shaft in those days would have been of the fully built type so failure was quite common and it even is still a big issue today with these mamoth engines and the damage is really bad if one of these things let's go as each web pin ECT is all different parts and can weigh upto 70 tons each. They have punched holes in the sides of ships when they have been let loose. While in thoses days the engine room was manned all the time the duty engineer would still be busy doing maintenance and there was no computer alarm systems in thoses days to let you know **** was seriously about to go wrong so un less it was noticed on the hourly rounds or heard by the duty engineer or motor man who would be the only two in the engine room. Now we have oil mist detectors bearing wear monitors and a whole load of computer control allowing all the engineers to go to sleep at night now and the duty engineer will be woken up by the computer if something is wrong.

Just to make you all jealous hears the beast I currently get to look after.

Think the Chief Engineer is winding you up, that single cylinder doxford at South Shields, was a test engine, used to test parts in development for the P and J type engines. It was donated to the college when the test R and D department was moved.

And looking after your fine big green engine will not make me Jealous at all. Ive spent enough time in my life bobbing about on waves to figure out that going to sea is a life Ill happily leave to others.

Back in the day though there would have been 5 or 6 guys in the engine room, duty engineer officer, juniour, and a few oilers or motormen.
Numbers really didnt fall till the 70s.

 

[addjunkie]

Having been to hyundai in Korea and seen these things assembled, it is quite awinspiring.

 

[Dieselman 63]

in awe of those builders, however the modern crosshead 2 cycle ships engine has developed to such a stage that it is the most mechanically efficient of any internal combustion engine , something like 250 gr/bhp/hr, they too have no exhaust valves, plenty of stuff on youtube on the building of the biggest ships engines, sulzer , b and w etc build in the shipyards of Korea under lincence, the sound of a 3or 5 potter, gives me goose bumps, a particular beat, there are Doxfords still running in the world, the Interislander ferries in NZ, ran them, my brief time as second eng. was on a tug, with 3000 per shaft, EMD,s900rpm, noisy buggers, small, common in locos, mine were the vee 16 , dead easy to start,

NZ Interislanders (kiwirail ones) are a joke now they’re just so old, one lost a propeller a few years ago and they had to hire a dredger to retrieve it from the bottom of the channel as it cost less than a replacement! They’re always in trouble in some way. The new one they bought from Stena uses as much lubricant oil in a day as the other two ships did in a week or something... think it’s the pride of Calais or Dover that’s the last rail ferry, it has a Maori name but I see the big steel letters welded onto the hull from the motorway and painted over white

 

[winchman]

Thanks for sharing

 

[Dieselman 63]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel...-failed-interislander-ferry-propeller--report

 

[Robbie260]

Think the Chief Engineer is winding you up, that single cylinder doxford at South Shields, was a test engine, used to test parts in development for the P and J type engines. It was donated to the college when the test R and D department was moved.

And looking after your fine big green engine will not make me Jealous at all. Ive spent enough time in my life bobbing about on waves to figure out that going to sea is a life Ill happily leave to others.

Back in the day though there would have been 5 or 6 guys in the engine room, duty engineer officer, juniour, and a few oilers or motormen.
Numbers really didnt fall till the 70s.

My bad was going on the size of the pit it came out of so thought it must have been a couple of cylinders at least.

 

[Seano]

Thanks for sharing things I never got to see, my time was spent on vlcc's running super heated steam turbines, with only two men to a watch and a floating ( no pun intended) chief, then they went to semi automated engine rooms only manned during daylight watches with an engineer and a mechanic, a far cry from my apprenticeship days working on Shields trawlers, and Port of Tyne Authority pilot boats running Gardener 8L3B engines.

 

[Robbie260]

just read that, the Maersk ships fit props horizontally and the builders rep a chief with a lifetime experience watches the op, in one you tube vid of a build, the yard fitted the screw when he was absent, he made em pull it off and inspected the taper and bore

Didn't stop the propeller falling of one of the new Chinese build v class container ships when it was on sea trials. Not that I work for them or anything like that.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Didn't stop the propeller falling of one of the new Chinese build v class container ships

Someone left a split-pin out?

 

[addjunkie]

There are lots of things failing on all sorts of ships, just generally you only hear about it, if its the grey navy or some kind of disaster.

 

[Robbie260]

talkimg Maersk here a company with record second to none really.screws made in Germany, ships Korean build, project engineers Norwegian

I know a bit late but you really wouldnt belive the half of what goes on. The entire v class was built in china as an experiment as the korean yards are getting to expensive and even thier build quality is crap they have only really started to produce quality in the last year or 2 but even then it varys wildly even between sister ships, ships start to fall apart after 5 years.

Alot of effort gose into promoting the company image what gose on behind the scenes is quite a different story in most cases. Though admitadly it is one of the few container carriers where you wont be forced to do anything unsafe if you think its to risky. Having said that if you have an accident the no blame culture is full of finger pointing and blame.

 

[daleyd]

talkimg Maersk here a company with record second to none really.screws made in Germany, ships Korean build, project engineers Norwegian

Hope they didn't have Norwegian navigators...

 

[addjunkie]

I know a bit late but you really wouldnt belive the half of what goes on. The entire v class was built in china as an experiment as the korean yards are getting to expensive and even thier build quality is crap they have only really started to produce quality in the last year or 2 but even then it varys wildly even between sister ships, ships start to fall apart after 5 years.

. Having said that if you have an accident the no blame culture is full of finger pointing and blame.

I was on two or three new built korean ships in the 80s, stood by in Hyundai in 86 guess theyd be chinese quality equivalents, back then. Having said that, if everything works, you dont learn much!


As for the culture I shall correct it for you!

No blame, but I want a name.