Bing! (West Lothian)

Moderators: John, Sharon, Fossil, Lucky Poet, crusty_bint, Jazza, dazza

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Vinegar Tom » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:02 am

Nice one LP ( and the original provider :) ) Now I sort of understand that landscape . There is an exibit in the new Museum of Scotland showing the extracted fractions, from petroleum to bitumen, from some former shale works .
Glasgow ya bas!
User avatar
Vinegar Tom
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2403
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:59 pm
Location: Trying to find the exit from Black Mesa

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:24 am

Glad you like :) This was from a 1909 book issued by the 'Canada Department of Mines', believe it or not. Much Googling had went on before I found this. (And I didn't even find what I was looking for to begin with.)

It turned up here, which seems to be a handy resource: http://www.archive.org/index.php
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:26 pm

I saw the exhibit in the museum too by the way, and it's remarkable what they were able to make from the stuff. Fertiliser too apparently, and hydrochloric acid. Looking at the model of the retorts there I had an idea they were big, but the photo with the men standing in front was amazing. It seems no retorts survive, only models - a bit of a shame, but I guess 'industrial heritage' is a recent idea.

On the hunt for visible remains now, so I am. With that in mind, up to Philpstoun. (Strangely, until the other week I always thought it was 'Philipstoun', but no second 'i'. It is pronounced with the second 'i' though, to confuse the unwary. The things you learn...)

Philpstoun then. The Philpstoun Oil Company began producing in the 1880s, with its own retorting works and refinery on-site, though this was out of use by around 1925. Mining continued though, and there are two bings left on either side of the Union Canal, the older one to the north. The southern bing was fed by a tramway over the canal, with its concrete piers still there. The southern one is a strange creature, having been partly removed years ago for building purposes. It's not as spectacular as Greendykes, but it's all the more odd for having been hollowed out.

Inside, looking back to the entrance:
Image

Odd landscape:
Image

The compulsory sighting of Binny Craig in the distance:
Image

Hollowed out:
Image

A strange leftover peak:
Image

Down where the old oil works were, there is just shy of damn all left. You can tell the land's been levelled for use and there are small mounds that suggest the remains of buildings, but that's about it. There's lots of bricks, with a few courses still there, but the area's too overgrown to get an overview. This is the closest to a standing building:
Image
(Don't laugh!)

The only standing structures, other than the bings, are the two piers for the tramway over the canal. This is the southern one, viewed from the top of the smaller northern pier. (The tramway ran on a fairly steep incline.)
Image

Finally, a bit of the more intact northern bing. They do look better with blue skies:
Image
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:58 pm

Vinegar Tom wrote:There is an exibit in the new Museum of Scotland showing the extracted fractions, from petroleum to bitumen, from some former shale works .

Lo and behold :)
Image
(Forgive the 'photos of photographers' thing there; I wish they'd fit anti-reflective glass. If there is such a thing.)
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Vinegar Tom » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:02 pm

That's the chappy , a lot more naptha than I remembered :)
Glasgow ya bas!
User avatar
Vinegar Tom
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2403
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:59 pm
Location: Trying to find the exit from Black Mesa

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby cell » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:28 pm

Further back in the thread, Lucky Poet, posted two excellent references, from which and along with information from RCAHMS, I’ve compiled the following. I was particularly interested in electrical generation, so apologies for the slant but it does give some background to the oil works illustrated in the map extracts. The list of works is not exclusive but focuses on those that are known to have generated their own electricity, these tended to be the larger sites and those that were in existence towards the end of the industry

In 1919 the shale oil industry was consolidated under Scottish Oils Ltd which was a subsidiary of Anglo Persian Oil Company (later BP). The Pumpherston Works became the central refinery for all Scottish shale oil production. By 1938 there was 12 mines, 5 works and the Pumpherston refinery, they also had their own workshops at Middleton Hall

Uphall, Pumpherston Refinery, NT 0745 6950
Opened before 1884 by the Pumpherston Oil Co, refining of crude shale oil ceased in1962, although some crude oil from Nottinghamshire continued to be refined there until 1964. Detergent production continued until c1995.

In 1884 electric lighting was applied to a section of the Pumpherston works, but faulty insulation caused the destruction by fire of the department concerned. Full electrification took place after Niddry Castle.

1950s electricity production description from Scottish Oils Ltd. “Originally two 400kw alternators each direct coupled to three crank vertical triple expansion high speed steam engines. Both of these were replaced three steam turbo alternators. Latterly a 1.5MW and two 1MW turbo alternators with a total boiler capacity of 168000lb/hr”

Uphall, Roman Camp, NT 0735 7037
Just north of the Pumpherston refinery, the Broxburn Oil Company constructed new mines, oilworks including a bank of Henderson patent retorts and company village at Roman Camps in 1892. It continued in production until c.1955 and was mostly cleared by c1958. The manager's house was still in existence in 1998

1950s electricity production description from Scottish Oils Ltd. “4 generating sets with a total capacity of 1.45MW, boiler capacity is 93000lbs/hr”

Winchburgh, Niddry Castle, NT 0930 7476
The Niddry Castle Oilworks were constructed by the Oakbank Oil Company in c1902 and introduced many technical innovations such as the widespread use of electrical power. Crude oil produced there was transported to Oakbank for refining. The oilworks closed in 1960, the last but one Scottish shale oil works to remain in operation.

1950s description from Scottish Oils Ltd. “When the works were built in 1902 they were the first to completely adopt electricity for works and mines. Originally there were two vertical compound high speed engines of the trunk piston type, direct coupled to 200kw 3300v 3 phase 25hrz with belt driven exciters. These were replaced by four Beliss, three cranked compound high speed generating sets. Two of the Beliss sets were replaced by two 1.8MW turbo alternators working at 3300V 3 phase 50hrz. A frequency changer of 850kw has been installed and operates in conjunction with the two remaining 500kw sets to supply 25hrz mining load to the eastern area.
During extension to the works the opportunity was taken to change the existing plant to 50hrz.
Shale is conveyed from the mines to Niddry Castle works via a 1.5 mile electric railway with 6 electric trolley locos operating at 500/550V DC, this dates back to 1902.. The current boiler capacity is three 30000lb/hr and two 15000lb/hr boilers.” This works also fed Glendevon mine with DC current via a 300kw glass bulb rectifier. The electric railway survived until closure of the works in 1960 and No.2, one of the original American-built engines was preserved by the National Museums of Scotland.

West Calder, Addiewell Works, NT 0001 6256 (bing)
Opened by Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited in 1868 and was one of the largest in the area, closed after 1950.

1950s description from Scottish Oils Ltd, Two 1MW turbo alternators 4 18000lbs/hr boilers, it also supplied the Baads coalmine at West Calder with DC current via a 400kw glass bulb rectifier.

West Calder, Westwood, NT 009 641 (bing)
Built just before WW2, north west of West Calder, and the site of the five sisters bing, closed after 1950.

1950s description from Scottish Oils Ltd. “Two 1.8MW turbo alternators four 30000lbs/hr boilers, two 500kw Belliss sets are available as standby at Westwood pit”

West Calder, New Tarbrax, NT 0256 5558
South of West Calder, Tarbrax oilworks were constructed in 1904-5 on the site of a previous concern and closed in 1925. The works and their associated mines were notable for their early use of electrical power for winding, haulage and ventilation in mines and general use in the oilworks. The 1st electrical winder in Scotland and known to have operated three steam driven Siemens generators at one time.

Livingston, Dean Oil Works, NT 0305 6843 (bing)
Dean oil works was built on the site of a failed oilworks by The Pumpherston Oil Company in 1897, and supplied crude oil for refining at Pumpherston. The works closed in 1946.

Electrical power for the oilworks and adjacent company village was produced by a steam driven generating plant. The three Siemens alternators were each coupled to 720 bhp Howden triple crank compound steam engines. Each had an output of 500 kW, 3300V, 50 cycles, 3 phase. Exhaust steam from the power plant was used in retorting the shale.

Mid Calder, Oakbank, NT 0781 6600
Oakbank Oil works was constructed c1869 by the Oakbank Oil company on the site of an earlier enterprise founded c1863. Crude oil production ceased in 1925 although the refinery continued to 1935.

The first application of electricity to the Scottish oil industry was in 1879 when in Jan & Dec two licences were held by the British Electric Light Co Ltd for the use of two " Gramme" generators for lighting Oakbank works. Full electrification took place after Niddry Castle.

West Lothian, Philpstoun Works, NT 0500 7703
James Ross & Co. opened a crude oil works at Philipstoun in 1886. The oils produced there was sold for refining elsewhere, although the tars produced may have been processed at the company's tar works in Falkirk. The oilworks were closed in 1935.

In the early days the largest DC plant, a single 600kw Westinghouse turbo generator and three 185kw high speed engine driven generators all working at 550V
cell
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 470
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:54 pm

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Josef » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:17 pm

Someone mention Middleton Hall?


Image

From 'The Water of Leith', by the descriptively-named The Water of Leith Project Group, 1984.
User avatar
Josef
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 8144
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:43 pm

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:37 pm

Strange that - I was pondering taking a wander to get a shot of Middleton Hall this afternoon but decided the weather was too rotten. (Bloody haar all day here.) It's still there, but now a private nursing home. The (very well-built) 1920s workers' houses still surround it (they resemble Addison Act council houses). Odd thing to name a fault after, but hey. Nice map :)

Cell: thanks very much for that. I'm going to pluck up the courage to go look at those books myself, I think.

I was reading a couple of things from the local library, and one on Philpstoun had a few words to say on electricity. It's not got any references, but apparently the workers' houses there (and in many other mining villages) had electric lighting in the early 20th century, being hooked up to the oil works DC supply. The oldest Rows in Philpstoun were wired up in 1922. It was strictly for lighting only, and residents were allowed one 60W bulb in the kitchen, one 40W in the room, 30W for the scullery and 15W for the bog, with a single socket in the kitchen for an additional lamp. (Very much 'company towns', these places!) Hardly luxurious, but ahead of their time in a sense.

Oh, and:
Crusty Bint wrote:whats the name of these carts? train geek, help please

I finally found out they were called hutches.
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Chris » Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:55 pm

The Museum in Almond Valley Farm park in Livingston has a large exhibition on shale mining and industrial life in West Lothian. Well worth a look and if you time it right, the wee railway should be running too.

http://www.almondvalley.co.uk/default.htm

Chris
User avatar
Chris
Busy bunny
Busy bunny
 
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:59 pm

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:39 pm

It seems shale oil had its last boom during the Great War, with domestic product obviously being pretty handy. By the 1920s the business was in trouble, and the half dozen surviving shale oil companies were amalgamated under the name of Scottish Oils, under the guardianship of Anglo-Iranian Oil. (How times change and innocent names take on new significance.) Scottish Oils' HQ was Middleton Hall in Uphall, an older building taken over and expanded for offices and laboratories. I took a detour while fetching more beer to stave off the sheer ennui from being in fecking Uphall to bring you these. (It's now a nursing home, which may or may not be ironic.)

It was a stately home at one point, but was heavily modified:
Image

Image

Image

Hints of an industrial past:
Image

A strange feature, that archy type bit. Note the vent above the roof crest too:
Image

Taken over for nursing home shenanigans, but more hints of heavy industry:
Image

This still looks like a 1920s lab, somehow:
Image

Next, I need to find some mine entrances... Well, I've a rough idea where some of them are, but how to get there is another matter.
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Expired_Patent » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:39 pm

Excellent photos and an excellent insight into the shale industry.

The RCAHMS has some photographs online showing the scale of the bings. Scran has shale images too, including details of the haulage employed on the bings.

For the construction of the Central Scotland motorway network the contractors Griffiths of Armadale and W. H. Malcolm of Glasgow were among the main blaes movers. Malcolm's ran trains from one of the bings into Glasgow at one time.

The large amount of material removed over the past couple of years from the Niddry bing was mainly for the Forth Road Bridge approach road improvements, now complete, but there is still material being shifted for smaller jobs.

There is a good bit of film, which was on a commercially available railway enthusiast type video showing a railway society (Glasgow Uni IIRC) visiting the private electric railway system which ran in the works and mines before its closure. If I locate it I'll post details.

A current book giving recollections of miners about life in the mines and villages is "Shale Voices" ISBN: 0946487634, at about a tenner.

Dave.
Expired_Patent
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:06 am

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:29 pm

Cheers for that. I've not done Shale Voices yet, but have gone through Pumpherston: the story of a shale oil village (by Sybil Cavanagh, 2002), Hail Philpstoun's Queen (by Barbara Patullo, 2004) and Shale Oil Scotland (by David Kerr, 1999). (Apologies for forgetting to mention them earlier.)

There seems to be a treasure trove of stuff owned by West Lothian libraries, but much of it lives in Blackburn. (Aye, the Susan Boyle Blackburn.) It's a real pain to get to, and it's Blackburn :?

Annoyingly, there's a Scran photo whose description mentions a 1920s promo film made by Scottish Oils. I wonder where it lives?
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Icecube » Sun Jul 19, 2009 1:51 pm

I've just spent a pleasant hour reading this thread, fascinating with great contributions especially from LP.

One tiny contribution from me - the carts used to move the waste up the bings would have been called hutches.
Icecube
Second Stripe
Second Stripe
 
Posts: 371
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:22 pm

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby hungryjoe » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:42 pm

I only found out last year that shale is a major constituent of bricks. So far as I know, most of the shale bings in Lanarkshire are the by product of open cast coal mining and that a lot of the mine owners also owned brickworks.
A possibly interesting wee aside, is that one of the shale bings owned by my former employers had quite a high coal content (just under 14%). Someone had the brainwave of mixing a little of this in with the shale normally used for brick manufacture, this enabled the use of less gas to power the kilns as the coal burned inside them and saved 25 grand a month on the gas bill.
Multi dinero, multi ficky fick, multi divorce.
User avatar
hungryjoe
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1746
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:26 pm
Location: Glasgow

Re: Bing! (West Lothian)

Postby Lucky Poet » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:38 pm

I finally saw something more in the way of remains the other day, and in Broxburn too, namely what appears to be some kind of mine entrance. Turns out a bit of local knowledge goes a long way - my Broxburn-raised guide to the place thought it was commonly known.

Here's where it is, just off Greendykes Road immediately to the north of the canal; it's the dark area left of the lamp post:
Image

Heading through the gate, there's a wee gap in the fence leading to a partially dismantled bing:
Image

It seems a bit odd having an entrance going into a bing, but there it is:
Image

Clearly well-constructed it is too, though it's looking a bit of a state now:
Image
Image
Image

Needless to say, enter at your own risk: it doesn't look incredibly safe. It's an odd one though: there's not one entrance but two, this second one being twenty feet or so to the south and running parallel to the first one, i.e. also heading east:
Image

It's even dodgier, having partially caved in just past the entrance. Note the rotten timbers:
Image

Now, we didn't have a torch, not having planned our visit. However, I'm told they join up inside. The first entrance only goes for about fifteen feet before turning a right angle to the right into a joining passage leading to entrance number two. (This sharp corner seems to indicate it was an entrance for men rather than shale hutches, actually.) Wish I'd had a torch though, as there is apparently a sealed entrance in the joining passage leading further to the east and into the old bing. Quite how well-sealed it is I don't know; nor am I sure I'd want to venture in if it wasn't. Still, I'm now tempted to head back some time with a torch.

It's all a bit mysterious to me though. Why would they place a bing on top of a mine entrance? Or tunnel into an existing bing, if it was there first? It possibly isn't even a mine entrance, as the three bricked passages are horizontal (the first one only seems to slope down because of loose shale falling in the open section), and run along at what would have been the original ground level before the shale was dumped there. What the hell else could it have been though? And why have two separate entrances leading to a single door inside? Answers on a postcard...
All the world seems in tune on a Spring afternoon, when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
User avatar
Lucky Poet
-
-
 
Posts: 4161
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Up a close

PreviousNext

Return to Around the World

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests