Know whereabouts of old Bord Na Mona machinery ?

Silvera

A slightly unusual question .........

Does anybody here know the whereabouts of old electric-powered Bord Na Mona turf cutting/harvesting machinery ?

I'm aware of two at present - one near Edenderry and another in The Bog of Allen......both turf cutting machines.

I believe most of the old machinery was scrapped over the years but there may be a few still in a complete state in some bog/yard/field ???


Reason I ask is that my father worked for Bord Na Mona in the fifties and would like to see some of the older machinery if there's any more about.

He's saddened that BnaM don't have the foresight to restore at least one of the old electric-powered machines and have it as part of a machinery museum - they are unique in the world after all ............. and were first operated in the 1940's - long before most people here had electricity !

(N.B. - I'm also aware of the 'machinery collection' near the BNaM Clonmacnoise and Offaly railway depot. No electric-powered machines there AFAIK.)

Irish-trucker

It is a pity that the BnaM don't have a museum , it sure would be interesting .

I doub't any bord na mona machine would be an easy restoration , would'nt they be as rotten as hell from the soggy conditions

Me and my Father went to look at a MF 35 , and it was falling apart it was hurrendous , still its what to be expected :rolleyes:

do you know about the museum all about peat/turf ? i have very vauge memories of a school trip there but it was very interesting , its somewhere in dublin or kildare ,im afraid i dont know which ,or what the name was ,no machinery though when i was there .it was done by hand.

perhaps it would be of interest .
can someone please enlighted me

out of interest ,would your father have known if bord na mona ever had any stationary engines in use ? i'm always interested in hearing what stationary engines done years ago , apart from the pumping water and generating electricity !

john

ds20prefecture

Silvera wrote:

Does anybody here know the whereabouts of old electric-powered Bord Na Mona turf cutting/harvesting machinery ?

There was a medium sized power station in Lanesboro, Co. Longford that I think has been recently mothballed. You might look there.

BrianD3

I used to see lots of old BNM machinery about during my "travels" around the midlands. But I don't recall having seen any for a few years. Two places where you might possibly see some are the BNM depots/offices along the Rhode to Rochfortbridge road and the Rathangan to Edennderry road.

Silvera

Thanks for the feedback guys!

irish trucker,
You would think that BNaM machinery would be rotten by now, however only yesterday my father and I were looking at/photographing an old electric-powered turf cutting machine that was almost complete and far from rotten!

Apparently, a local group of people had approached BNaM several years ago with a view to moving the machine to another location and repainting it to be a kind of tourist attraction.

Anyway the project was abandonded after their mobile generator (which was being used to power/move the machine) was stolen :mad: .....and the machine has lain in the same spot ever since

It's still very much salvageable and it's a real shame the BNaM don't move it to a more suitable location and restore it for public display !!

Re: Stationary Engines -
I recall my father telling me that when purchasing an old saw bench in the late seventies, he was offered a petrol stationary engine to power it for c.£10, which he turned down - preferring instead to use a modern electric motor to do the job (which made sense at the time I suppose).

However, he now regrets not buying the engine as it was so cheap !


Incidentially have you ever come across a 'Ram' water pump ?

Well, we know it as a 'Ram' - it may have an official name.
Basically, it's a simple vacum operated pump which was located at the bottom of a slope/field and as a spring/stream flowed into it, the vacum in the chamber pumped the water to wherever you wanted it to !

It was mostly used on farms to distribute water to livestock troughs.

It gave off a characteristic 'thump' every so often, hence the 'ram' name I suppose.

ds20prefecture

Silvera wrote:

Incidentially have you ever come across a 'Ram' water pump ?

Well, we know it as a 'Ram' - it may have an official name.
Basically, it's a simple vacum operated pump which was located at the bottom of a slope/field and as a spring/stream flowed into it, the vacum in the chamber pumped the water to wherever you wanted it to !

It was mostly used on farms to distribute water to livestock troughs.

It gave off a characteristic 'thump' every so often, hence the 'ram' name I suppose.

I witnessed one of these in action in Caverswall Castle, Stoke last year. The guy who was supposed to be tutoring us on repair of our DSs fecked off to get the pump working when he heard it was there

Aren't they also called a gravity pump?

Silvera

Interesting ds20 ?!

My father had one of these about 10 years ago but it was taken by a scrap merchant who was not instructed to take it :mad:

My father recently said how it would have made for an interesting display as a vintage rally

"Gravity Feed Pump" ....... yeah, that sounds about right.

Silvera.

Silvera

Here are two pics of the electric-powered turf harvester myself and my father looked at last week...........
(May not be much to look at now - it's missing one harvesting 'arm' - but would be a great centrepiece for a museum collection if restored/repainted)

.............it dates from the 1940's and may well be the only one of it's kind left!

Wake up Bord Na Mona - restore this machine !!

Irish-trucker

hi silvera ,

Looks an interesting machine alright , well worth restoring , if they could get their act together before it's too far gone .

About the 'Ram' water pump ,is it something like this ? - http://www.stationaryengine.org/H1_restore_5.JPG

I have one bought , have to pick it up in a few weeks , to drive off one off the engines at shows , provides a decent load

i have another one , a Lister Domestic pump(did you see it at fingal ? i was up at the bird of prey end of the engine line-up )
i have no pictures of it ,but i'll take some if you want .

Also - Do you think we could start a classic/vintage machinery forum to save bombarding the classic cars , or do they mind ?

John

Silvera

The 'Ram' pump my father had was a simpler version of the one pictured above.
Basically it had the tank and a round base which could be bolted onto a concrete base (which was usually situated at the bottom of a field - and had side walls and tin roof.....like a mini-pump house).

Re: A new forum.......
I would be all for it, but would we have enough interest here to start one. It seems like it's only you and me who have any real interest in this sort of stuff

Re: Bord Na Mona machine......
Yes, if they would only get their act together and restore it before it's too late.
With a little imagination this would also make a fine working display alongside a BNaM museum/compound. i.e. it could be started up on a couple of specified days per year and do a demonstration of how it cuts turf.

I bet there are loads of retired BNaM employees who would love to be part of such an occassion - and operate a museum on a voluntary basis.
E.g. My retired uncle said he would love to help run a museum if such an oppurtunity came up.

crazymonkey

The turf cutting machine your after is called a bagger, well thats the name we called it. I work on one at coole in co westmeath about ten years ago, it was fully rebuild and working fine. I think its still their at the bords yard in coole am not 100% sure. It was like a grave yard for old bog machinery. hymacs, screw levellers, tractors.

Silvera

Welcome to the discussion crazymonkey!

Do you recall if the machine you worked on was electric-powered or diesel powered?

What year(s) would you reckon the machine I photographed (above) was built ?

murphaph

There's a BnM depot near Clonfert Cathedral in Co. Galway. It's in the middle of nowhere really. I once took a loco for a spin down there one sunday! It's an amazing place (I know-the boring midlands) really. We walked down a lane to a railway only bridge across the Shannon right beside Shannonbridge power station. The bleak landscape under a forboding sky can be eery. On the way back a train laden with peat crossed the bridge into the station. You could see that each wagon is actually inverted in a big tumbling cylinder to empty it!

The depot is reached by heading north west from Banagher (centre of map) towards Clonfert and then towards Shannonbridge power station (but don't go that far). You pass over a hump back bridge which passes over the narrow gauge railway and the depot is just below the bridge on the right.

crazymonkey

Thanks Silvera its a good discussion.

The bagger i worked on was electric, we used a diesel generator when we were moving between bogs and no esb lines were available. Their was a second one in the yard which we used for spares. Am not sure about yours in photo, i think ours was made in early 50's, i will try and get more info from my old bord supervisor.

Silvera

Any updates crazymonkey ?

rabbitinlights

Why would they use an Electric motor?

s00057232

If your talking about the old electric bagger turf cutting machine,there is no surviving one in Ireland,all were scrapped.my father was a shop steward at the time and tried convining the bord to keeping one for historical puposes but to no avail.they were an amasing monster of a machine.Funny enough the finnish peat production company bought one and brought it over to finland and restored it,so that probably is the only surviving irish bagger.HUGE MACHINE

Silvera

Are you including the one I looked at back in 2005 near Edenderry?
It is an electric-powered 'Bagger' ....also crazymonkey stated that he thinks there might be one in Coole?

Typical that Bord Na Mona obliges a Finnish company with a bagger but does little to save one themselves?! Same thing happened/happens with CIE giving locomotives away to UK groups no problem, yet does little or nothing to help local groups save such machinery?!

s00057232

I didnt know of any surviving bagger in ireland,is it a fully complete machine?is it definately a large bagger with the 5 maserators,compared to the small "foidin" turf cutting machine.i know for a fact that there is no surviving bagger in the moundillon works located around lanesboro,co.longford.serious piece of engineering for its time with a huge spreader arm.

Silvera

Yes, it's 'bagger' I saw. It doesnt have the full spreader arms attached, but they are lying in the undergrowth nearby.

Here's a pic I took - viewed from the rear. Cab just visable at front. Note wide tracks each side. 'Bagger E15' was/is painted on the cab.

s00057232

could you tell me a more detaile dlocation of this bagger.does it belong to the derrygreenagh or blackwater group of bogs

Eugbug

Hi everybody
The "bagger" was located on the Clonbullogue road out of Edenderry.
Its disappeared during the last few weeks.
Anybody know whether it's being restored or just scrapped by Bord na Mona?
Were these machines powered by a trailing cable or generator?

s00057232

they were powered by trailing cable,large heavy duty cable that had to be lifted up to the poles with long sticks to be plugged in

Eugbug

Here are some photos of parts of the bagger I took a few weeks ago.

johnnycortina

Recently spotted old B Na M loco at scrap yard outside Arklow, on road to Gorey - think its for sale.

Eugbug

I found the new location of the Edenderry bagger. Its been moved to a location a few hundred yards behind the back of the Bord na Mona depot.
They had to drag it a fair distance- about 2 miles

artic

Typical that Bord Na Mona obliges a Finnish company with a bagger but does little to save one themselves?! Same thing happened/happens with CIE giving locomotives away to UK groups no problem, yet does little or nothing to help local groups save such machinery?![/QUOTE],

I have to disagree there but CIE does not just give away locomotives to the UK, for a start they use a different gauge to the Isle of ireland, secondly CIE work very closely with The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland and the Irish traction Group providing storage work facilities, drivers, limited use of rail network, cranes and spare parts at no cost,
There is actually quite an impressive number of locomotives restored by the organisations above which are used for specials on a regular basis.

artic

Typical that Bord Na Mona obliges a Finnish company with a bagger but does little to save one themselves?! Same thing happened/happens with CIE giving locomotives away to UK groups no problem, yet does little or nothing to help local groups save such machinery?![/QUOTE],

I have to disagree there but CIE does not just give away locomotives to the UK, for a start they use a different gauge to the Isle of ireland, secondly CIE work very closely with The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland and the Irish traction Group providing storage work facilities, drivers, limited use of rail network, cranes and spare parts at no cost,
There is actually quite an impressive number of locomotives restored by the organisations above which are used for specials on a regular basis.

Silvera

Eugbug wrote: »

I found the new location of the Edenderry bagger. Its been moved to a location a few hundred yards behind the back of the Bord na Mona depot.
They had to drag it a fair distance- about 2 miles

Thats interesting!
However, it could mean one of two things, either -

- They moved it there to save it,or
- They moved it there for to cut it up and scrap it?!

I actually wrote to the MD of Bord Na Mona around the time I first saw this Bagger (c.2005) to ask that it be saved. I didnt recieve any reply to my letter.

Eugbug

Here is a link to photographs of vintage BNM equipment I discovered on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40906674@N06/

cedan

@crazyeyes I work in those treches in coole for a private contractor spreading turf, passed through the BNM yard and didn't notice a bagger there but i'll be back there in march/april so i'll keep a better eye out.

One of the guys I work with used to operate a bagger years ago, love to hear the storys etc about life on the machines long ago.