Young, the first town in the British Empire to be totally lit by electricity. Tamworth had some street lighting done about two weeks before Young, but Young had both street and domestic lighting done at the same time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The early system for charging for electricity was a penny per night for each 16 candle power globes. Three nights at a cost of 1/9d weekly was the minimum charge and any globes in excess of 15 in the building was charged at 3d weekly.
The first plants used to generate electricity were Fowler Steam Engines imported from England. Later on two Hornsby Suction gas engines were used, one a 75h.p. and the other a 95h.p.The fuel for these engines were charcoal burnt mainly at Murringo. A third engine of 85 h.p. was added to the plant.
The chug-chug of the suction engine was a familiar sound at night. Towards the end of their careers the big ends would become worn, their pistons loose and the populace waited with bated breath as the chug-chug slowed down. There was no voltage control in those days and the light would diminish until only a glow would be seen in the filament.
The two George's , George Coleman and George Oxford would be frantically trying to raise the gas pressure. The old Hornsby would give a cough, clear its throat, and the chug-chug would gradually resume its rhythmic beat.
Then the populace would relax, take up the" Witness" and resume reading it. The next step in the march of progress was the purchase of a 400 h.p. Atlas air injection diesel.
The diesel has a peculiar habit of slipping its governor, and when it did the whirr could be heard all over town. When this happened the attendant would make a bee line up the steel ladder to the catwalk along the top of the engine, 14 feet above the ground, where the necessary adjustments would be made.
At 7.30am one morning when the diesel was being started for the day by George Coleman and his junior offsider, Bob Collins, the diesel bolted. Try as George did, he could not get the governors to take control. The noise attracted people to the power house and the great engine started to vibrate on its foundations like a greyhound on its leash. The building started to shake and spectators made themselves scarce.
The massive 14 ton fly wheel started to move along the main shaft, which was 10 inches in diameter. In the meantime the valiant men stuck to their task. George ordered Bob down off the engine and told him to go for his life. George then shinned down the ladder and up another to the overhead fuel platform where he turned off the fuel supply and the engine finally stopped
After an inspection it was found the that the fly wheel had moved seven inches along the shaft towards the cylinders and the fly wheel had stopped within a quarter of an inch from the main standard.
During the night someone had entered the building and tampered with the engine and put sand in the fuel valve. Imagine the havoc if the flywheel had struck the standard.
Each employee was presented with a gold watch, suitably inscribed, as a token of esteem for their devotion to duty.
- From an article in the South West News Pictorial Centenary Issue, October 22, 1964.