Jump to content

Meadows generator set


guykay

Recommended Posts

Anybody out there interested in an old ex military meadows diesel engined gen set. It must be around 70 yrs old, I was offered one yesterday, but it's not really of interest to me. It has been stored indoors for years and used to be used for occasionally powering an industrial unit near me. The unit is now closed & the gen set is now unfortunately being stored outdoors, so I guess will deteriorate fairly rapidly. I don't think the owners want much for it. They just want rid.

if there is anyone interested let me know & I will put you in touch with them

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...
  • 2 years later...

the 27.5 kVa meadows three phase generrator.    They are beautiful...    I'd love one for the farm!

This is the one at a fort in essex that's now shut-down.   Air or cart-start.,and is all else fails decompressor and a starting-handle!      The only data I could find when I was looking at repairing this one was some info on the diesel-engine  from some tractor-mates.....

I was into vintage tractors at the time and had  a zil131 russian truck.

All the best with your info-search Alec....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would they be the same as the generators in the tunnels on Gibraltar?

The reason  ask I was in Gibraltar as a teenager in 1966 and my Father was telling me how to start them with the crank and demonstrated how it was done on a genset.

He was a RADAR operator in New Guinea. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to repair these Meadows gen sets during the 70’s and 80’s until the ‘new generation’  were brought into service. They were on the whole very reliable. To hand crank them you would set the cold start on the pump, then set the de-compression lever, this allowed a set number of turns on the crank handle before it kicked in, giving you time to get the speed up. I remember a small apprentice doing this one day, he was not turning it fast enough and when the de-compressor kicked in it threw him off the trailer!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to de-compress and turn the one at the fort over a few times a year to keep the oil pump shifting oil around the system.  But I think there was a problem with the air-start on that one.  We never ran it.   A pity I would have loved to get it goung!

What sort of BHP/Torque did that big meadows engine have?   Most of those older diesel lumps were fairly low (power to tonnage) by todays standards....  

If I ever see one looking for a new home I may have to get it as a backup for the farm....    Would be just the beast for a job like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had one in Belize as a standby genny, it got a lot of use and always worked fine. It sat between our hangar and the army vehicle "workshop" with Swampy usually parked close.

I was told they were used by Bofors guns, would that be correct ?

 Would love one now. ..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, S_Bluck said:

I used to de-compress and turn the one at the fort over a few times a year to keep the oil pump shifting oil around the system.  But I think there was a problem with the air-start on that one.  We never ran it.   A pity I would have loved to get it goung!

What sort of BHP/Torque did that big meadows engine have?   Most of those older diesel lumps were fairly low (power to tonnage) by todays standards....  

If I ever see one looking for a new home I may have to get it as a backup for the farm....    Would be just the beast for a job like that.

You have just reminded me, there was a hand pump to pressurise the oil system in the engine and you did this first prior to starting, you could see the pressure rise on the gauge.

The air starters suffered with damaged pinions when people tried to start them on air without enough pressure, they were bronze if I remember correctly. The air starter had four pistons in V formation as I recall. You could also start them with a cartridge, to turn the starter, but I never saw that done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/17/2020 at 10:17 AM, Richard Farrant said:

 You could also start them with a cartridge, to turn the starter, but I never saw that done.

The cartridge looked like a very large shotgun blank..  A Coffman starter?....    We never had the cartridges!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hello Guys  I am scratch building a model of the 27.5kVa Meadows Generator. I have enough pictures but I do not have any dimensions. Does anyone know the width, depth and height of one of these as it would have sat on the Sentinel trailer.

I remember these from my time in the Outer Hebrides we had a number of them up there and then in Germany I used to drive a Bedford RL Radar Repair Vehicle with the gen set in tow. You had to leave a decent space behind the vehicle in front as emergency stops were not too quick!!!

Edited by buzzer999
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...